The Beach House
by writersblock24
Summary: Stephanie, Lula, and Connie join a few of the Rangemen crew on a vacation in Miami, but will everything go as smoothly as planned? Babe HEA, not so Joe friendly. Rating for later.
1. Chapter 1

Okay, so I'm finally posting! Yay! Trust me, I'm just as excited as you are. Hopefully the muse has enjoyed the time away because I'm ready to start writing again!

As usual, none of this is mine. All I own is the plot. Janet owns the rest.

Please enjoy!

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><p>My favorite time of the year is fall. The leaves are changing; the weather starts to cool, and of course, Halloween. Grandma Mazur and I go all out with decorations and outfits. Last year, Grandma was a Pussycat Doll. I didn't even know she knew who they were.<p>

My mother wasn't happy at all. I'm pretty sure she was drunk the entire night.

Anyway…

Winter, however, is my least favorite.

Don't get me wrong, I love the snow, the chilly nights by a fire with a cup of cocoa, and Christmas. But when you set off three car alarms trying to get to your car without slipping on the ice (grabbing for dear life is NOT fun), that's where I draw the line.

My name is Stephanie Plum. I'm currently working as a bounty hunter and nothing is changing any time soon. I'm getting pretty good at it, and working my way to almost great. I put a few more swipes of mascara to make my blue eyes pop, stuffed my curly brown hair into my pink hat, pulled on my fake Uggs and coat and headed out.

"Hey girl." Lula said when I walked through the Bonds office door. Thankfully the new building was finished before winter hit and we could move out of Mooner's bus. Mooner is a nice guy, but he was making so many brownies, we were getting a contact high. Lula's hair was a natural color of honey blond, which matched her skin and gold tube top, fuzzy jacket and black spandex pants. Oddly, that worked for her. Connie and I are always worried that the spandex will bust, but it hasn't happened yet.

I dropped the Tasty Pastry box down on Connie's desk and hung my coat on the back of the chair. "Damn snow." I grunted.

"Rough morning?" Connie asked. She was putting a nice blood red polish on her nails. Connie was Vinnie's secretary. She was the front line to his bookies, hookers and his father in law, Harry the Hammer. She was all Italian with more hair, more bust and more Family connections than I could ever hope to have.

"You could say that." I took a Boston Crème and plopped into the chair across from Connie's desk. "I set off a few car alarms and a few of the residents called the police. It took me an hour to get them to believe me."

"Dumb ass cops." Lula huffed. She came over and picked up a glazed. "What are they actually good for, when they go after innocent people?"

"They go after the bad guys with guns. You know, the ones we run away from?" I said to her.

"Hunh."

"Great," Connie sighed. "There's another big storm coming our way."

"How much snow this time?" I asked.

"Twenty inches."

We all groaned.

"I don't know how much more of this I can take." Connie sighed.

"This is Trenton in January." I looked at Connie hopefully. "Any skips for me?"

"Nope. Snow's kept crime down. Anyone who did have a court date is sitting in jail trying to keep warm."

We all sat there, silent.

"What we need is a vacation." Lula said.

"And how do we do that?" Connie asked. "Vinnie has me chained to this desk."

"No one is going to miss their court date in this weather, so keeping this place open is actually costing more money than it would be closed. If we're not here, then Vinnie doesn't have to pay us."

"She's got a point." I said.

"How are we going to get this past Vinnie? He won't shut this place down."

"Talk to Harry. He's still got his steel toed boots on Vinnie's nuts, right?" Lula asked. "Tell him that it would be good to let us take a few weeks off, you know, for morale or something and cheap. He won't have to pay anyone."

We all thought about this. After Vinnie was caught with the hooker, it was a miracle that he got back together with Lucile. Now Harry knew his every move and has more of a say in the office.

"That's really not a bad idea." Connie said after a minute. "Vinnie's not going to want to go against Harry. All we have to do is get Harry on our side." She picked up the phone and called him.

"I can't believe she's doing it now!" Lula was bouncing in her seat. "Just think about it. Two weeks on the beach. Just men, alcohol, and no skips!"

"If we can get his approval, how are we going to pay for it?"

Lula's face dropped a little. "Damn, I forgot about that."

Connie put down the phone with a small click. Her face was pale.

"Well?" Lula asked. "What did he say?"

"He said he liked the idea. I don't believe it. We can go."

"Woohoo!" Lula was dancing around the office.

Me, being the voice of reason, asked, "And how are we going to pay for this?"

"Pay for what?" A voice behind me asked. I felt the tingle running up my spine. Ranger was behind me.

Ricardo Carlos Manoso, aka Ranger to everyone, Carlos to his friends, was one of the small complications in my life. He's my mentor, my sometimes boss, and my lover. I don't like to talk about the last one because it's a little embarrassing and it gets me all hot and bothered. He loves me in his own way and his jar of black secrets that keeps us from anything more than described. I think he's trying to protect me and himself but for now, we have somehow settled into an easy friendship that we're both happy with.

He was dressed in all black today with a black pea coat hanging on him just so. Ranger looked sexy. But the man could pull off anything.

"We're going on vacation!" Lula exclaimed.

Without turning around, I knew there'd be a hint of a smile on his face.

"As soon as we figure out a way to afford it." Connie said. "Damn, and I was getting excited."

"I have a time share in Miami that you can use."

"Really? And you don't mind?" Lula looked hopeful.

"How much for two weeks?" Connie asked, pulling out a calculator.

I wasn't sure I'd be able to cover any share of the cost. I bit my lip and counted all the money I had.

"Nothing. Some of the guys were already going to head down there so it's already covered. I was going to go, but we're getting some new clients that I have to be here for. Now it won't be going to waste."

"You're sure? We don't want you to change your mind and end up in a third world country." Lula said.

Ranger just smiled. "I'm sure. Its better if you guys use it if I'm going to be stuck here. Plus someone has to keep the guys in check."

I just rolled my eyes. Like the guys would ever go off the deep end. Of course with Lula there, they might think about it. I snickered for a moment on that picture then rejoined the conversation.

"I don't know." I said. I didn't like that Ranger was just offering us this. I trusted Ranger and knew there was no catch, but I'm a very independent person. I liked to take care of myself, thankyouverymuch. And him just giving us this gift seemed like too much for nothing in return.

Connie and Lula were googling the house and not paying attention to Ranger and me.

"No price, Babe." Ranger whispered in my ear.

I raised my eyebrows. "How…?"

"It's all over your face." He kneeled down in front of me. "You deserve a vacation. There are no strings so don't worry about owing me."

"I don't want a free ride just because you have money and I don't want you to think I'm only your friend because of your money and…"

He put a finger on my lips. "Just go, Stephanie. You know you want to."

He was right. I did. So bad in fact that I would've taken the strings. That's the problem with Ranger. He knows just how to push my buttons to make me do whatever he wants.

Not that I was particularly complaining. We're talking Miami here.

"Girl, come look at this house!"

I went around the desk and looked over her shoulder. "Wow that is really nice." I looked at Ranger. "You're absolutely sure?"

He nodded.

Connie and Lula looked at me. I knew they had already decided to take Ranger up on his offer. Now they just needed me to say yes so they wouldn't feel guilty.

I bit my lip, then sighed. "Okay. Let's go."

"Woohoo!" Lula yelled. "This is gonna be great. Miami here we come!"

Connie and Lula were dancing around the office. Again.

I sighed.

Ranger came over to me, grinning. He put an arm around my shoulders. "I knew you'd cave."

"How?"

He looked at me blankly. "Babe."

I sighed again. "Because you knew that I couldn't pass up the trip?"

"Yup."

Figures. I'm so easy.

His grin widened. "I wish."

I just rolled my eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

Yay! Another chapter! This would've been out yesterday, but I went on an impromptu field trip.

I forgot to mention this in the first chapter, so I'll say it now. Everything in this story is made up. It's all coming from my mind and not real life. I'll stay true to the characters as best I can, but places may be made up or in the wrong place.

Not mine. I just wish and pray it was.

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><p>"This here is going to be the best trip ever." Lula said, looking at the virtual tour of the house. "I'm going to need to go shopping. When are we leaving?"<p>

"Is tomorrow too soon?" Connie asked. She was using her laptop to find cheap airline tickets.

"Please, I was thinking around five tonight."

"You have any skips for me?" Ranger asked.

Connie handed him a stack. "No hurry."

"Hey! I asked that and you gave me nothing!"

"I didn't have any skips for _you_. These are all above your pay grade."

That was true. Ranger didn't take any low bond skips, which meant they were a lot scarier than some of my regulars. He can have those to himself.

I let them hammer out all the details and show up when they ask me to. Ranger nudged my shoulder and flicked his head to his car. I put on my coat and followed him out.

He turned the key and put the heaters to high. "You're absolutely sure about this?" I asked. "The guys won't mind?"

"They'll be pleased. And if not, they can find somewhere else to stay." Ranger smiled. "I just wish I could be there to see their faces."

"Who's going to be down there?"

"Lester and Bobby are already down there opening the house and getting supplies and Tank was planning to fly down tomorrow."

"That's a lot of testosterone. Lula and Connie will be happy. We're not leaving you too short staffed?" That was the whole A-Team after all.

Ranger shook his head. "We just hired a few new guys. We're good. What about you?" Ranger asked, raising an eyebrow.

"What about me?"

"Are you happy about all the testosterone?"

I looked at him curiously for a moment. Then the light dawned on me. I shrugged. "Sure. It'll be nice to have the guys around. But Joe and I are on right now so nothing will happen."

"You should invite Joe." Ranger said, looking out the windshield, his face blank.

"Why? This is my vacation."

"He might not like it. You, the girls and my guys sharing a house."

"Then he can suck it. It's my vacation and I don't want him there."

Ranger looked at me. "Sounds like you're headed to an off phase."

"One could only hope." I mumbled.

Ranger smiled at that.

Joe Morelli is the other complication in my life. He's a Trenton detective that uses his swarthy good looks to get into my bed. Dark hair, dark eyes and an Italian attitude complete the package. While Ranger is nice and all hard muscle, Joe is all lean muscle. He and I have been in an off and on relationship for years now and I'm starting to get sick of it.

It might have something to do with the fact that I love Ranger as well as Joe. Ever since Scrog, I've been very aware of this fact and I'm not sure what to do with it. So for now, I just ignore it.

"Sounds like trouble in paradise."

I blew out a sigh. "I feel like we're stuck in this rut that we can't seem to get out of and I'm starting to wonder if it's worth my time anymore."

"So the vacation gives you space to figure things out."

"Right."

Ranger nodded. "I get that. You have a lot to think about."

Boy do I. I sighed once more and then got out of the car. As I got to the office door, I turned and waved. Ranger beeped back at me.

"How many tickets should we buy?" Lula asked me when I came back in.

Was this a trick question? "Uh, three?"

"Did you want to invite Morelli?"

"No."

Connie and Lula looked at each other. "Trouble with Supercop?" Lula asked.

"No. I just want to get away from everything. This is exactly what I need."

"Are you thinking about breaking up with him for good?"

Honestly, I wasn't sure of anything right now. "I might be."

Connie and Lula shared another look.

"If you want to go after Ranger, you know we're all for that, right?" Connie asked. "And anything you'd tell us would be in confidence. We wouldn't blab to the Burg."

The Burg is a little part of Trenton that every Italian American family aspires to live in. It's clean and friendly and has the best gossip. When they say 'location, location, location', they're talking about the Burg. For everything.

"I know. Thanks guys, but I haven't made up my mind about anything."

"Connie and me think you should do it. That guy looks at you like you're lunch."

"So?"

"So he don't look at Connie and me that way. Just you. There's something there for him. Feelings wise."

Ranger has told me numerous times that he loves me, but qualifies it. The 'he loves me but''s as I like to call them. I know he has feelings for me, but I'm not sure that they go down as deep as Lula and Connie think.

Instead of continuing the conversation about Ranger, I changed the subject. "I'm going shopping. Who's with me?"

Connie and Lula jumped to their feet, put on their coats and followed me to my new to me Jeep. It was a one tier up from POS as it had no rust on it and all the right doors and tires. That and I haven't blown it up yet, but it's still early.

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><p>Three hours and two credit cards later, I was ready for lunch. I dropped the girls off at the office and headed to Pino's. Joe called earlier and asked me to join him.<p>

"Hey Pino!" I called when I entered the restaurant. The lunch rush was over so only cops and college kids were occupying the tables.

"Hey Stephanie! Nice weather we're having, huh."

"We're supposed to get more snow tomorrow."

Pino sighed and rolled his eyes. I smiled, gave him a wave and headed back to where Joe was.

"I ordered you your sub." He said, standing up and giving me a kiss.

"Thanks." To make things easier, he asked me what I wanted on the phone and told our waitress. "So, what's up?"

"I haven't seen you in a while. Bob and I miss you."

"Been busy." I said, distractedly as I sucked down my coke.

"Who have you had to pick up?"

"The usual suspects. Mooner and Eula."

The waitress sat our food down, stopping conversation.

"So I was thinking that I could order a pizza and come over. We could watch the game or something."

I knew that 'or something' meant sex. I sighed and bit my lip. I didn't think I'd have to tell him now. I was planning to leave a voicemail before I got on the plane. "I can't tonight."

"Why not?"

"Because."

Joe smiled, thinking I was playing a game. "Because why?"

I sighed again. Might as well rip the band-aid off. "Lula, Connie and I are going on vacation in Miami."

Joe stared at me blankly for a minute. "Huh. Right. What time should I come over?"

"I'm serious! Our plane leaves at 8."

He blinked and then realized I wasn't kidding. "What do you mean you're going on vacation?"

"I'm pretty sure that statement was clear."

"Were you going to even talk about this with me?"

"Excuse me? You're not my keeper. I don't need to explain everything to you."

"Yeah? And exactly how are you paying for all this?

"We bought cheap tickets and we're staying at someone's house."

Joe got a little red. "Who's house?"

"A friend. And that's all you're getting from me."

"It's not Ranger is it?"

I bit my lip.

"Damn it, Stephanie!" He yelled, banging his fist on the table. "I told you to stay away from that guy! He's nuts!"

"He's my friend and he's letting us use his house! I trust him!"

"And what is he getting in return? You sleep with him while you're down there?"

"No! He didn't ask for anything! Besides, he's staying here."

"Huh. Doesn't mean he has an agenda."

"Like _you_ don't? All you want to talk about is getting married and getting me pregnant. What, are you waiting until I'm so sick of the conversation that I'll eventually cave?"

"No! I just want to keep you safe! And while you're running around with Lula and Ranger, I can't do that. You need to stop being friends with them and find a more sensible job."

"You mean a more boring job." I sighed. "Just when I thought you were done with all of this. We were finally making some progress when you stopped pressuring me. You're doing it again!"

"I just want what's best for you! And Ranger's not it!"

"If you really, _really_ wanted what was best for me, you wouldn't be pushing so hard for me to change, wouldn't be telling me who to be friends with. I don't do that to you, so why do you think it's okay for you to do it to me? You should stop being so insecure where Ranger is involved because I'm with you."

"I'm not insecure about Ranger!"

"Yeah, well you sure are acting like it. If Ranger and I were together, he wouldn't stop us from being friends."

Joe scoffed. "I highly doubt that. He'd put a wall of men between us whenever we try to do anything."

"Then you don't know him at all." I stood up. "In fact, I don't think I know_ you_ at all. I'm going on this vacation and you can't stop me. I'm going to have fun whether you like it or not. If you don't, tough. I'm going with my friends and you can stay here by yourself."

"If you leave this restaurant, don't bother coming back to me. We're through."

I smirked at him. "I think that's what I just said."

I left.

But first, I dumped the rest of my coke on his head.


	3. Chapter 3

Yay! Another update. I'm on a roll!

Not mine. Although, sometimes I wish they did.

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><p>After I left Pino's, I sat in my car for a minute, trying to get my anger back in check.<p>

"Stupid. Stupid. Stupid." I said, banging my head on the steering wheel each time when I had. We just had it out in a very public place. I'm sure my mother would be calling soon. And then it will be all over the Burg.

And as if on cue, her ringtone started from inside my bag. Sighing, I pulled it out of my bag and hit ignore. Knowing my mother, she'd call my apartment next. I bit my lip. No way did I want to talk to her. Not right now.

So instead, I drove to Mary Lou's.

Mary Lou has been my best friend since grade school. We've done pretty much everything together. We played dress up, went trick-or-treating, high school dances and even got married only years apart.

And that's where our paths diverged. She went on to be very happy and have four kids. I, on the other hand, got divorced from The Dick only a few months after the wedding when I found him doing the nasty with Joyce Barnhardt.

Joyce has been my worst enemy since kindergarten when she stole my crayons. She was always the bully and when we entered high school, she became a bully and a slut. After finally growing out of the baby fat and buck teeth, she got a boob job and began sleeping with any man who would sleep with her, married or unmarried men. But I've gotten back at her by sending her an exploding beaver and having Bob poop Chinese on her lawn. We were nowhere near even, but Bob made a dent.

She was waiting at her door when I pulled into her driveway.

"I heard you pull up." She said when I she could see the shocked look on my face. I thought only my grandmother and mother could feel me coming.

"Oh."

She nodded her head inside. "Come on in. I already got the ice cream out."

"So you heard." I sighed as I sat down in the chair in her kitchen. Her house had the same floor plan as my parents. Oddly enough, that gave me some comfort without my mother nagging at me.

"Yep." She said.

I took the spoon and dug in. Being the guest and having the juiciest gossip, I got to eat first. "He just makes me so angry." I said through the mouthful of Chocolate Peanut Butter ice cream. "He thinks he can just control me."

"He worries about you."

I sat the spoon down. "Are you taking his side?"

"No! I'm just saying that he worries so he feels he needs to control you…"

"If you think…"

"Can I finish?" Mary Lou asked in her mom voice.

I picked up the spoon and dug back into the ice cream.

She had a satisfied smirk on her face. "However, Joe's going overboard. I agree with you there. But if he thinks that for a second that you're going to take an order from him, he's got another thing coming."

"This is what I'm saying."

"But…"

"But? There's another but? How can there be a but when you're on my side."

"But…" she started with a glare. "Maybe he's worried that eventually you might pick Ranger over him. He loves you and doesn't want to lose to Ranger. You know you have to choose eventually."

I lowered my head and picked at my nails. "I know that."

"So this vacation is actually a good thing for you."

I blushed. "You heard about that too?"

She smiled genuinely now. "Give me a little credit."

I grinned and blushed deeper. "I don't know why try to I hide things from you."

"Me either." We laughed at that.

Feeling guilty that I didn't mention it, I asked, "Do you and Lenny want to come with us? Take the kids to his mother's and have a nice vacation just the two of you?"

"That sounds really great, but we need to stay here. Kenny has the chicken pox and I don't want to leave him alone."

I put my hand on hers. "You're such a good mom. But seriously, call me if you change your minds or want to get away for the weekend. We'll make room."

"That's a very nice offer and I will keep it in mind." She patted my hand. "Now I want you to do something for me."

"Oh boy."

"Don't worry, it's not bad. I want you to think about what you want. What you _really_ want. Not what the Burg expects. Not what you think would be a good way to rebel from your mother. Take everyone out of the equation except for yourself. Find out what makes you fly like you did off the garage."

"You remember that?"

"Please. I was the one daring you off the roof."

We smiled at each other.

"I know Dickie didn't make you happy but I know there is a guy out there ready to make you just as happy as Lenny has made me. I want that for you. Eventually, you need to find out who that is and if it's Joe or Ranger, I don't want you to miss your chance."

"I will. I promise that every time I am sun tanning on the beach, I will think about it."

"Don't rub it in."

I grinned. "No promises."

"Have some more ice cream. You deserve it."

Eventually. That was becoming my favorite word in the dictionary. Mary Lou and I talked for a few more minutes and then I motored off to see my mother. Avoiding her would only make it worse. Plus she'd deny me cake. That was right up there with cruel and unusual punishment. I turned off of Mary Lou's street and headed towards my childhood home.

One of the things that I liked about the Burg was that it never changed. Cars from the fifties sit on driveways, flowers are neatly trimmed and windows are clean and shiny. In thirty years, my parents have only repainted the house once. And they painted it the same color.

My mother and grandmother were standing at the front stoop when I pulled it. I saw my mother grimacing and Grandma Mazur smile.

Grandma Mazur came to live with my parents when Grandpa Mazur to the bus to the casino in the sky many years ago. She's a lot like me with more flabby skin and a bright yellow tracksuit with white shoes. I guess she was taking a styling tip from Lula because her hair matched the suit. My mother looks a lot like me, with big blue eyes and salted brown hair. She sighed once and headed back to the kitchen.

"How long has she been ironing?" I asked Grandma.

"About an hour. But she just quit all of a sudden. I thought she was going to have a stroke or something."

I walked into the kitchen and saw my mother at the table with a glass in her hand. "Mom?" I asked.

"Oh stop giving me that look. It's iced tea." She rolled her eyes.

I sat down next to her and she pushed the plate of cookies in front of me. Chocolate chip. I grabbed one and she sighed again.

"I just don't know anymore."

"Know what?" I asked. Grandma had taken a seat next to me in a show of support. Me and Grandma were a lot alike. We both did crazy things that the Burg liked to gossip about, which drove my mother nuts. Sometimes I wonder if Grandma's doing it on purpose. She took a cookie from the plate.

"I want you to be happy and have a nice husband, but if you keep pushing Joseph away, I don't know if you'll ever have that." My mother thought Joe was my last chance at marriage and children. Sometimes _I_ thought that, but now, I wasn't sure.

"Mom…"

"Is it about that Ranger man?"

"Umm…"

"Joseph tells me he runs with the people on Stark Street. That he's a thug and a dealer."

I felt my hackles rise. Joe could talk smack about me, but bring Ranger into this, and it was game on. "Joe was mistaken. He's a bounty hunter like me."

"Oh I know that. I think he says it because he wants me to take his side instead of yours."

"Oh, I see." Looks like I need to have another talk with him.

"It's not working." My mother said, obviously reading my face. "Like I would take Joe's side or any man, over my daughter's!" Mom paused. "Because if you want to be with him, I'm okay with that too. I think."

"Who? Joe?" I asked.

"No, Ranger."

"Me and your mother have been using the computer and we googled him." Grandma piped in.

For their anniversary, me and Val chipped in and got them a desktop computer. Grandma has been slowly teaching them how to use it.

"There wasn't much, but what we did find talked a lot about his philanthropy."

Ranger pays good money to be erased from any sort of search because he has so many enemies and the fact that Grandma found something meant he was either mentioned in vague terms or it was his company, Rangeman.

Rangeman, LLC is a security firm in the center of town. They were ten minutes away from any building that they did security for and ran in eight hour shifts all day. The only way you'd know it was his building is by the little gold plaque by the front doors.

"I'm beginning to wonder if Joe is just spreading rumors around to make it _seem_ like he was a bad man. Maybe to scare me into harping on you." She snorted. "Like that would've worked anyway. You never listen to a word I say!"

"I listen to some of the things you say." I may not listen to the bulk of it, but I know when to listen and when she's just lecturing me.

"I know we don't know him very well," mom started, ignoring my last statement. "But if you wanted to bring him by for dinner, that would be okay."

I sat there, stunned. What was with everyone today?

In a rare form of showing emotion, my mother put her hand on mine. "I just want you to be happy. Whatever… whoever that is for you. You're nothing like your sister. I should be grateful and I should treat you as your own person. Variety is the spice of life, after all."

I wasn't sure what to say. "Thanks mom."

She sighed once more and got up and started to stir the gravy on the stove. "Now, are you staying for dinner?"

"Uh no, I need to pack."

"For your vacation," she nodded. "Well, have fun."

"Thanks." I stopped in the kitchen, turned and went to hug my mother. "I love you."

She patted my hand. "I love you too, honey."

As I left, I thought about what my mother said. She was always pushing me to get married, but now, she just wanted me happy. I was shocked by the sudden change in opinion but at the same time, relieved. She wasn't going to push Joe on me like she did in the past. There wasn't going to be a lecture about how I disappointed her, embarrassed her.

She was finally in my corner.

And right now, that was the best feeling in the world.


	4. Chapter 4

Okay, I know you are all excited for them to get down to Miami and I _promise_ that's the next chapter. Ranger was feeling a little unloved, so I added this one just for him.

Not mine.

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><p>After leaving my mother's, I made a quick stop at the local convenient store for some supplies.<p>

"Find everything okay?" The pimply kid behind the register squeaked to me. Poor kid. He was probably going right through the middle of puberty.

"Yup."

"You sure do have a lot of ice cream here. Are you sure you need it?" He asked, eyeing my hips.

"Excuse me?" All sympathy for him was lost.

"Lady, I'm just saying…"

I pulled out a ten. "Keep the change." I huffed. I picked up my plastic bag and left.

I went home and went through the things I bought today with Connie and Lula. The Macy's clearance rack was fantastic today and I got a lot of great bargains. Shorts, t-shirts, camisoles, tank tops, capris, a few sundresses, two nice dresses in case we go somewhere nice or to a club, a new pair of FMPs, a red bikini and some sexy lingerie. A girl could never be too prepared. I clipped the tags and grabbed my detergent.

I was coming up the stairs with my clothes when the phone rang. I checked the caller ID. Joe. No way was I answering that.

"_Hey Cupcake, it's me_,_" _his voice boomed all around the apartment. He sighed. "_Look, I'm sorry I blew up at you. I was completely out of line._"

"Isn't that the understatement of the century."

"_I realize that now and I want to make it up to you. If you get this before you leave, I was thinking that I could move some things in my schedule and come down for a few days. Wouldn't that be nice?_"

I snorted. "Not likely." I said aloud. Even though I didn't want him there, he shouldn't have to move things around, he should have the time free to go on vacation with his girlfriend!

Not that I want him there anyway.

I'm getting sidetracked here.

"_Well let me know what you think. I'll talk to you later. Love you!_"

I walked over to the answering machine. "Delete." I said, hitting the erase button. He had actually lasted a lot longer than I thought he would. Joe is usually apologizing an hour after our fight. Most of the time it's to get back in my bed, but sometimes it's just to keep us together because he thinks that maybe I'll find someone other than him. But now, I was officially done with him. After talking to Mary Lou and my mother, I realized that this holding pattern would never end. We'd always be off and on.

And I suddenly realized that I wanted something a little more permanent. Joe was nice after I divorced the Dick because I wasn't ready for anything serious. In some ways, I liked that we were off and on. When the time suited me, I could have a boyfriend, but when I wanted to be by myself, I could be.

But now I think I am. Ready for something more.

And I don't think I want it to be with Joe.

Wow. Major revelations bring on major headaches. I went to the bathroom, took some aspirin and went back to my laundry.

I was folding laundry when Connie called.

"Bad news," she said. "The flight for 8 was full. I got us on the red-eye so we can beat the storm."

"What time?"

"The plane leaves at 5:45. I'll pick Lula up first then get you about 4:30."

"Ugh, early."

"You can sleep on the plane."

"I can't sleep. I hate flying."

"I'll get you a Valium." Then she hung up.

I sighed. At least I'll have more time to pack. I flung my red lace bra over the shower rod.

"Sexy." A voice behind me said. Ranger was standing behind me with his arms across his chest, making his delicious biceps more visible. He was wearing his usual black t-shirt and cargoes tucked into black commando boots. I could see the slight bulge of his gun under his coat.

If only that was another kind of bulge…

Holy hot flash! Down girl!

"Jeez! Ranger, stop that!" I yelled, clutching my heart.

He just grinned at me. "What are you doing?"

"Hanging my bras to dry."

He creased his brow. "Is your dryer broken?"

"No," I said, flinging a black bra up next. "It's better this way. Something about the wire weakening or something."

"Ah."

"Your sisters never did this?" I said with a small smile forming.

"I never paid attention."

"And you're paying attention now because…?"

His eyes darkened. "I like to know what's hiding the prize underneath." He said, his hands gently brushing the undersides of my breasts.

"Ranger." I moaned.

His head came closer and just when he was about to kiss me, I pulled away. I wasn't ready for that yet.

"Almost had you." He said, grinning.

"Good thing I'm getting good at seeing the wolf in you."

His grin widened. "You haven't seen anything yet."

My face got hot. "Jeez." I said. "What are you doing here anyway?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

He was still staring at my bras.

"Ranger!" I yelled.

"Hmm?" His eyes focused back on me.

"What are you doing here?"

"I brought dinner."

I crossed my arms. There was only one reason why he would bring me dinner. "You heard."

"Babe, the entire Burg heard." He replied. "That and Hal was there to witness it."

I groaned. Hal was the Rangeman gossip when Lester was on vacation. How oddly appropriate…

He came in close again and rubbed my back. "You okay?"

"I think so." I sighed. "What'd you bring?"

He grinned. "Fast recovery."

"I'm hungry."

"I brought Chinese."

"Perfect." I followed him out to the kitchen and we grabbed the containers and a couple of plates. I opened one of the boxes and smiled. "You remembered." I said.

"Fried chicken in General Tso's with Lo Mein. Not hard to forget."

True, but every time Joe brought Chinese, he brought steak in Kung Pow and white rice. "But you also remember no vegetables. That's the important part."

Ranger scooped white rice and some lemon chicken onto his plate. "That stuff will kill you, you know."

"Yeah, but it hasn't happened yet."

Ranger just rolled his eyes. "Next time, I'm sneaking in some vegetables."

I ignored him and grimaced when he picked up the chopsticks. "How do you know how to do that?" I asked him.

"When I first started in the army, I was stationed in China for a few months. A nice old Chinese lady taught me to use them along with Mandarin."

"Yeah, right." I said, rolling my eyes. He was kidding. Ranger never talked much and when he did, it was _never_ about his past.

He just stared at me.

I blinked back. "Oh shit, you're not kidding." I blushed now. "Oh my God. I'm such an idiot."

He grinned. "Make it up to me by telling me what Joe was covered in when he came out of Pino's."

"I don't want to talk about it." I said.

"Too bad."

"I guess I deserve that. It was Coke."

"Ah, that explains it."

"Explains what?"

"When Joe came out, a swarm of bees came and attacked him."

I laughed out loud. "That's priceless!"

"I thought you might like that." He took the fork out of my hand.

"Hey!"

Ranger just ignored me. He picked up the other pair of chopsticks and a napkin and a rubber band. He tied the napkin between the two sticks with the band. "Here," he said, putting them in my hands. "Only one way to learn."

"But…"

"Try that first. If you can't feed yourself, I'll give you the fork back."

"You're mean."

"Just eat."

"Fine." I sighed. "You're a big bully, you know that right?"

He just grinned at me. We ate in silence while Ranger watched me with the chopsticks. He gave pointers now and then, but pretty much left me to my own devices. We talked about everything and nothing. Ranger even cracked a few jokes. I know, I was shocked too.

"Where are the fortune cookies?" I asked when we had finished.

"In the bag, I think."

I grabbed one and tossed another to Ranger. He looked at the cookie and back at me. "Babe." He said on a sigh.

"Oh come on, humor me. You already destroyed the temple with my Chinese." When I finally mastered the chopsticks, I fed him some of my meal in celebration. Most of the noodles fell on his napkin, but I did get him one bite.

He looked at me for a moment, then cracked the cookie. I smiled victoriously at him. "Good fortune ahead for those wise with money." He read.

I nodded. "Oddly appropriate."

"What's yours say?" He asked.

I cracked my cookie, stuck half in my mouth and read. "Love is closer than you think."

Ranger looked at each other and blinked.

"Sometimes they're way off." I said, nonchalantly. Ranger grinned again. "I love the Chinese sayings on the back." I read the back and laughed. "Because learning how to say I can't speak Chinese in Chinese is fantastic."

Ranger looked at his watch. "I gotta go. I'm taking Binkie's place on surveillance tonight."

"Okay, be safe."

He kissed my forehead. "Will do." And then he was gone.

I sighed and went back to the kitchen and pulled out the pint of Chunky Monkey. Pulling out a spoon, I felt some of the stress left from the day leave my body. I sagged into the counter with each spoonful.

When I had finished, I threw the spoon into the sink and the container into the trash. I then went and took a shower, making sure that I had ample time to sleep in before we had to leave. I was thanking the Gods that Connie was the one who had decided to drive. I wasn't even sure I could crack an eye at 4:30. After my shower, I picked up my jeans and folded them neatly and placed them on the chair along with the shirt I had planned to wear tomorrow. I looked at the floor and picked up the piece of paper that had dropped from my pants.

It was the fortune.

I looked at the fortune still in my hand. The message still gave me goose bumps. I tucked the fortune in my purse. Maybe it will give me luck in love.


	5. Chapter 5

So another chapter! Yay! I'm very excited.

Hope you enjoy!

Not mine.

* * *

><p><em>Ring! Ring! Ring!<em>

I groaned and pulled my phone off the nights stand. "I was dreaming about Ranger naked in a tub of chocolate. This better be good."

"Well good morning to you, sunshine." Connie said. "Although, I do appreciate the Ranger visual."

"Your welcome." I mumbled through a yawn.

"So I just picked Lula up and I'll be at your place in ten minutes. Get up and be ready to go."

"Sure." I yawned again.

Just then, a loud chainsaw noise ripped through the phone.

"Holy crap, what _is _that? Are you okay? Is it the car?"

"I'm fine." Connie sighed. "Lula fell back asleep."

"Oh, well that makes sense. Okay, I'm up."

"Good." Connie hung up.

I yawned once more and got up. Thanking myself for putting my clothes out last night, I slipped right into them without any thought. Then I went into the bathroom and checked my face. I put a little mascara on and ran a brushed my hair, then deemed myself ready to go. It was early and I was planning to look presentable, not hot. I was just thankful that I didn't have my clothes on backwards.

I was outside by the time Connie pulled up. Lula was in the backseat snoring away.

"She woke up for about a minute, then went back to sleep."

I nodded. "HEY! WAKE UP!" I yelled into the backseat.

Lula snorted then opened an eye. "What?"

"You were snoring. And if I have to be up at this ungodly hour, so do you."

"You're cranky."

"Its five in the morning!"

Lula ignored me. "I need caffeine."

Don't we all. Connie took off for the airport and I kept Lula busy so she wouldn't fall asleep on us again.

Twenty minutes later, Connie parked and we were off to the gate. Thankfully this time I was pulled out of line as the random search. Last time I ever try to fly to Vegas for a skip. Everyone knew what kind of tampons I used by the end of that trip. Boarding wasn't for another ten minutes so Lula went off in search for coffee and Connie fell asleep.

Which left me in charge of watching our carry-ons.

Great. No sleep for me.

Lula came back a few minutes later with three large coffees and Lula waved it under Connie's nose. "Here, drink up."

Connie perked up a little and took the cup. "Thanks."

She handed one to me. "Here, cranky pants."

"Thanks."

Lula sat next to me. "How much longer?"

"We'll board in five minutes and then only a few hours."

"Good because I need to get in my bikini and get a good base going for my tan."

Connie and I grimaced at the thought of Lula in a bikini.

"What are you girls going to do first?"

"I was thinking about taking a nap." I said, taking a long sip from my cup. I had spent most of the night thinking about that fortune, Joe, and Ranger. The upside was I thought about Ranger naked, which is pretty much the best thing in the world, but the downside was that I got absolutely nowhere with them. I ended up only getting about three hours of good sleep.

"Girl, you are not sleeping away your vacation."

"I wasn't planning on it. I just need a few more hours to function."

"Hunh. What you need is to get laid. I'm sure one of those fine men would be happy to oblige."

Thankfully before I had to answer, the announcer called our flight to board.

* * *

><p>A few hours later, we were landing at Miami International. Lula had her face glued to the window and Connie was trying to see around her. I, sighed and looked down the aisle.<p>

"Girl, just look at those beaches! They're going to be fantastic." This came from Lula.

"I can feel my sun tan already!" Connie said.

I replied with nothing. Fortunately, I did get a few hours of sleep, but not enough to stop from being cranky.

"Girl, get your panties out of a bunch. We're in Miami!"

I mentally rolled my eyes. "I just want off the plane."

Connie and Lula just ignored me. They weren't going to let me harsh their mellow.

When we finally deplaned and grabbed our bags off the carousel, I looked up and for the first time, smiled.

Lester was standing next to Bobby and Tank holding signs with our names on them.

"Well aren't you guys just sweet." Lula said, walking over to Tank who was holding her name. They glanced at each other and blushed.

"We aim to please." Lester said, winking at me. He was holding my name and Bobby had Connie's.

I rolled my eyes. It was then that I noticed the woman behind Bobby.

"Uh…" I stuttered, pointing to the woman. She was shorter than Bobby, with long dark hair, dark eyes and mocha skin.

"Guys." She said, rolling her eyes. She pushed past Bobby and held out her hand. "I'm Marisol. But you can call me Mari. It's so nice to meet you Stephanie. I've heard so much about you."

"I wish I could say the same." I replied, not knowing what to say. She clearly knew me, but I had no idea who she was.

She frowned and looked behind me. "I thought you said Carlos was coming too." She turned to Bobby.

Ah. So that explains it. She knew Ranger.

"Mari is Ranger's sister." Lester said, hugging her to him.

"And my girlfriend." Bobby said, tugging her back to him. "She lives down here, but will be staying with us at the house."

"But Carlos doesn't know that yet. We were planning to tell him while he was down here."

Please, I thought. He knows.

"How do you know? I know for a fact that he doesn't talk about our family much."

"Shit. I said that out loud, didn't I?"

"Sure did." Mari smiled at me. She had the same one as Ranger. "But you didn't answer my question."

"He just knows. It's like he can see right through people."

"No, Bombshell. Just you. A blind man can see right through you." Lester said, grinning at me.

Everyone had a good chuckle at my expense. I rolled my eyes and handed Lester my bags. "Just for that, you get to carry my bags."

"With pleasure."

"We've got the girls." Tank said into a phone. He looked my way and said, "yeah, sure." Tank held the phone out to me. "Ranger wants to talk to you."

"Yo." I said into the phone.

"That's my line."

I smiled. "What's up, Batman?"

"I'm just calling to see if you had a good flight."

"Fine. A little early for my taste, but I'm glad I'm here."

"Good. What are you girls going to do first?"

"Get our suntan on. I can't wait to go swimming in the pool."

Ranger growled. "I like the image of you all wet, Babe."

I blushed. "Do you need anything else?"

"Nope, just wanted to make sure you got there okay."

I blushed. "We did. Thanks for calling and checking."

"Babe." He said. And then he was gone.

Ranger was starting to confuse me more than ever. He would push very close, and then _poof_! He'd be far away again.

This time, he wasn't backing off. If anything, he was pushing closer.

Hmm, something to think about.

We walked off to the car and Mari kept time with me. "Do you think he really knows?"

"Maybe if another one of your family members told him."

She face palmed. "My mother. Ugh! The gossip."

"I think if he knew and thought it was a bad idea he'd say something." I shrugged. "If your mother told him but hasn't said anything, then he wants you to be happy."

"Good." She locked our arms together. "Because I really am."

I looked at her and saw the sweet smile on her face. "Why ask me? You could've asked Lester or Bobby himself."

"Because you know him the best."

I scoffed at that.

"I'm serious! We were talking one night and he told me that he confides in you. There are some things he's told you that Bobby or Tank didn't know until they had been friends for years. I know he doesn't show it all the time, but you're his best friend."

I smiled. "He's my best friend too." I said in a small voice.

"But why he hasn't sealed the deal with you, now that confuses me. My brother can be a thickheaded ass sometimes."

Sealed the deal? We've done that many times. My heart and other places grew warm just thinking about the ways we sealed it. I peeked over to Mari, just to make sure I didn't say anything out loud. I figured I was safe. She was watching Bobby's ass sashay in front of her. Man, the guy could sashay.

This time she snorted.

Damn! I blushed.

"I love a man with a good sashay."

I had a feeling we were going to be great friends.

* * *

><p>Okay so <em>technically<em> they're in Miami, just not doing things. Don't worry, the next chapter they will be out and about!


	6. Chapter 6

So we come to another chapter. Who's excited? Because I certainly am. :)

For those of you who have your PM turned off, please turn it back on! I appreciate the reviews you send and I would love to send some appreciation back.

Not mine, but I think we all know that.

Please read the A/N at the bottom too!

* * *

><p>"When I heard you were coming in this morning, I had Bobby pick me up on the way." Mari said as we got into the car. Tank got in the front seat with Lula riding shotgun with Lester and Connie in the back seat in one black SUV while Bobby drove the other one. Mari graciously gave me shotgun.<p>

Actually, I yelled 'shotgun!' in the airport.

Loudly.

People turned.

I'm thinking that I may be a little slap happy.

"You girls are going to need a feminine touch to your visit."

"Hey, you don't think we can be feminine?" Bobby asked.

"Oh, oh honey no."

"Hey!"

We snickered at him. "What do you have planned?" I asked her.

"Well, there is a wonderful spa, stores in the Keys and some great places on Calle Ocho I think you guys would love. Plus the beach."

"All of that sounds great!" I may be a little _too _perky.

Bobby looked at me. "You're slap happy."

"Well yeah." I said, rolling my eyes. "The plane left and landed before the sun came up."

Bobby called Tank then pulled into a Dunkin' Donuts.

"Shut up."

Bobby grinned.

"Do you know how much I love you right now? If you asked, I would totally have your babies."

Mari just rolled her eyes at me. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were serious."

I turned and looked at her. "I'm all about the chocolate babies."

She sighed and looked at Bobby. "Get her an extra large."

"Already on it."

"Yay!" I bounced a little in my seat.

After Bobby and Tank grabbed the coffee and surprise donuts (probably to soak up all the coffee that was going to burn a hole in my intestine), we were on our way to the house. He made a left onto the highway and headed south.

"Hey, where are you going?"

"To the beach house?"

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "I know that. Why did you have to get on the highway?"

He grinned at me. "It's a little outside of Miami."

"Why and how far out?"

"You'll see." He said as he turned off the highway two exits after we had gotten on.

And boy did I see.

I don't think house was the right term for it anymore. It was more like a mansion on steroids.

"You guys time share _this_?"

Bobby shrugged. "Sure."

"Jesus." I said. "Business must be good."

"People need security."

"Please. People need a good lock and a baseball bat."

Everyone around me grinned.

We walked into the foyer and the girls and I took a good look around. The whole place was open with wall to ceiling windows. Off to the right was the kitchen and I could see many chrome appliances on the granite countertops.

"Holy shit." Lula breathed.

We kept walking and beyond the kitchen sat the dining room, which was done in a nice deep red with cherry wood furnishings. The whole house opened up into the family room with a bathroom cornered between the family room and the living room, which was to the left of the house. In the windows facing the back of the family room, I could see a very large pool with an equally large jacuzzi next to it surrounded by dozens of reclining chairs. And a respectively manly grill.

"Downstairs we've tricked it out with some pinball machines, a pool and poker table, a huge tv and the latest gaming systems." Lester said, looking like a proud papa. "I figure we could have a game night or we get rained in."

"Sounds good to me." I said. The other girls nodded.

In the front of the house sat a nice looking office with a computer on the cherry desk that looked like it could communicate with the Space Station. The walls were shelved with books in what looked like the same material as the desk and dining room set. As a kid, I had loved to read mysteries. If there were any good ones stashed away in here, I was going to sit my butt down in that comfy looking lounge chair or even the brown sofa pushed to one corner and read to my heart's content. I may have even drooled a little. To sweeten the deal, there was even a bathroom attached!

"I think I'm in love." I said to Mari who had followed me in.

"It's my life goal to read each and every one of these books."

I turned to look at her. "Who designed this room?"

She thought for a minute. "Carlos. He's always been a big reader. Not in public because he thought it was lame, but at home, he'd never stop."

I smiled softly at the thought of Ranger, ten years old, hiding under his blanket, reading past bedtime with a flashlight. My heart melted a little.

"Since your flight was so early, we thought we'd start exploring in the afternoon so you guys can get settled. Upstairs and to the right are your rooms. The rooms to the left the guys and I have taken. You can each pick a room, unpack, nap, take a bath, whatever and then meet down here at eleven. I know this really great place for brunch." Mari said, when we had rejoined the others in the family room. Tank, Bobby and Lester had already found a game on the big flatscreen and were ignoring us girls.

I looked at the girls and nodded. "Sounds good to me." I said.

Mari smiled. "Good. Now everyone has been talking and we thought you should take the master suite."

I looked up from my bags. "Me? Why me?"

"Because if my stupid brother," she rolled her eyes as she said that. "Had he bothered to show up, that would've been his room. It only seems appropriate that you get to use it."

That and the fact that the other girls were nervous enough around Ranger without thinking about him between the sheets they were sleeping in. They probably wouldn't get any sleep.

I shrugged. "Okay. As long as you guys don't mind."

"Please, girl, we'll be happy anywhere." Lula said, rolling her eyes. "Besides, we all know that the only person that Batman would want in his bed is Batgirl."

Mari grinned. "I like you."

Lula just grinned back. I had a feeling they were going to be great friends too.

A few minutes later, Mari was escorting us upstairs. She showed Lula and Connie their rooms and proceeded to me with mine. I walked in and my jaw dropped.

The room was an off white color that matched the sky blue bed spread and pillows. To the right was a pair of French doors leading out to the balcony and the greatest view of the ocean I had ever seen.

I may have whimpered.

"Wait till you see the bathroom." Mari said.

I looked over and saw the bathroom door ajar. Curious on how this suite could get any better, I pushed it open.

And gasped.

Inside was the greatest claw tub I have ever seen. Not to mention a wonderful three headed shower with glass door, two sinks, great lighting, and a separate place for the toilet. The floor and countertops were done in a subtle blue to match the bedroom.

"My God, I want to live in here!" I shouted to Mari.

I heard her giggle. After a few more minutes of investigating, I came back out and joined her.

"Now, over there is the entertainment center with most of the movies. The guys bought multiple copies of things so they wouldn't have to fight over it late at night. Why they can't just watch on one tv is beyond me." She said rolling her eyes. "What do you think you'll do?"

"Unpack and then take that bed for a test drive." I said on a yawn.

"Then I'll get out of your way. Have a nice nap!"

"Thanks."

I unpacked my clothes in the dresser and closet and pulled off my jeans. It was too hot and they were too uncomfortable to sleep in.

Curiosity got the better of me again. I wanted to see what kind of movies there were over there.

Knowing that this was Ranger's room, I wasn't surprised by the selection of action and horror movies. What did surprise me were the comedies and a few romantic comedies he did have. I got to the bottom shelf and gasped.

There, in the corner, sat Ghostbusters.

Now, to my knowledge, Ranger has never seen it and I'm pretty sure he would have never bought it…

Unless…

My mind wasn't ready to go there.

I closed the cabinet and went to the bed. I sat down and pulled the sheets around me.

I had one last thought before I drifted off.

Unless it was there specifically for _me_. That he knew I'd be here someday.

Someday…

* * *

><p>My cell phone woke me up two hours later, giving me enough time to wake up and get ready for brunch. Just thinking about it made my stomach growl.<p>

I yawned and looked at my phone. Two voice messages.

The first was from my mother. She wanted to let me know that Dad had just went by and picked Rex up. Oh my God! Rex! I can't believe I forgot about him!

"Is he okay?" I asked my mother when she picked up.

"He's just fine. Your dad gave him some of the hamster nuggets in the cabinet and he stuffed them into his cheek. He looked real happy too."

I sighed. I still felt guilty, but at least I was a good enough hamster mommy to remember to buy his food.

"It was a good thing that Ranger called and told us to go pick him up."

"Wait, what?"

"Mm hmm. Your grandmother left me a note before she went to play Bingo." We talked for a few more minutes and then hung up.

I couldn't believe…

Ranger was certainly a man of mystery. I tried calling him, but his voicemail picked up. Instead of leaving a message, I sent him a text.

"No price, Babe." He sent back. "Besides, Hector saw him on the camera and I didn't want you to come back to a dead rodent."

"Hamster."

"Babe."

I smiled at that one. He sent me a winking face!

Who the hell was this man?

The other message was from Joe. I debated whether or not to listen and decided against it. The only contact I wanted was from my family. I needed to figure things out.

I bit my lip. It was nice talking to Ranger. We actually had talked more while I was on this vacation than we had in the past years.

Okay, so my family, I decided. Plus Ranger. On a case to case basis.

Yep. That wasn't caving to anything.

I pulled my jeans shorts back on, grabbed my sandals and headed downstairs.

"Okay, ready." I said, announcing my presence.

"Holy crap!" Bobby said. Mari nudged him.

"Um, Beautiful, are you sure you're ready?"

"Yeah. Why?"

They all stood around and looked anywhere else but me.

Finally, Lula sighed. "Because it looks like you stuck your finger in a socket! Jeez, white girl, get a brush!"

"What?" I found the closest mirror. Eep! She was right! I raced back upstairs and tamed the locks the best I could. Sighing in defeat, I just grabbed a hair tie and went back down.

"Much better." Lester said. "Ready?"

We all went out and piled into our SUV's.

Nothing else could go wrong, right?

Right?

* * *

><p>AN: Okay, so I was thinking about this, and I know what I want to happen in the next chapter. Originally, I planned for something to happen in this one, but then Ranger wanted a part and I thought of some of the other things and it became too long. And then the thinking happened. I thought that for this one, I thought I'd do something a little bit different. The group is going to get into a little bit of trouble and what I want you fine, wonderful readers, to do is to decide who it happens to. All I need is a name, I've got the rest covered. We'll try this once and go from there. There are, however, some rules. I know, I know, let's all have a hearty groan. Be glad there's only two though...

Rule 1: It can only be one of the characters already in Miami. I know the Babes want something bad to happen to Joe, but he doesn't qualify. Unfortunately.

Rule 2: It can't be Stephanie. She gets a lot of stuff happen to her so for this time, I think it should happen to someone else. She deserves a little bit of rest, right?

So happy reading and voting!


	7. Chapter 7

I would like to say that I didn't mean to go this long without posting. I had a chapter written, but didn't like it so I tried again. Still didn't like it, so I restarted. This one, I really like. So as a treat that you guys had to wait so long, I added more than I normally do. Don't get used to long chapters (I wish I could write longer ones) but I think you all will like how it ends...

Your votes were tallied, the winner picked. I hope you enjoy!

Not mine. If it was, I'm pretty sure no one would ever hear from Ranger again.

* * *

><p>First of all, I would like to say that none of this was my fault.<p>

We were having a great time and nothing was going wrong. It was as if my bad juju was still in Trenton.

That was, until day five of our trip.

"I'm going out for some groceries. Anyone want to come with?" Connie asked. We had just finished breakfast and Lula and I were getting ready to go swimming.

"Sure, I'll go." Mari said. Connie beamed. They had become as thick as thieves lately and I was glad someone was going with Connie. They left a few minutes later and the boys decided to go down to the basement and play games.

"So how's Batman?" Lula asked me as we got comfortable in our lounge chairs. Lula was wearing a loud printed tankini and I was in my black bikini thanking the clothing gods that Lula wasn't in less.

I blushed. "He's good. Working hard." Ranger and I have kept in some kind of contact every day since we landed. I think it gave him some peace of mind that I wasn't destroying anything. We talked about our days, flirted a little and then he went back to work or I went to sleep, depending on when he called. I told him that I needed some space to get my head around things and he had abided by that rule. But that didn't stop him from doing a little lighthearted flirting.

"Uh huh. I'm sure he is."

I just let Lula's comment go. No need to add fuel to the fire.

But as I thought about Lula's comment, I began to wonder if there was something going on between me and Ranger. Something greater than whatever I had with Joe.

I pushed it out of my mind for later. That was definitely thinking position material.

A few minutes later, my phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Stephanie? It's Mari." She sounded shaken up. "We need your help."

* * *

><p>"What happened?" Tank asked when we arrived at the scene.<p>

And boy what a scene it was.

Connie and Mari were stopped at a light when they started getting harassed. Connie, being from Trenton flipped them the bird and motored out of there. What they didn't know was that the guys were following them and when they stopped, the two guys got out.

"I don't know what happened." Connie said. "One minute they were harassing us, the next, their car is lit up like a Molotov cocktail."

"It was the craziest thing I've ever seen." Mari said. "Once the car blew up, ours caught fire. I'm just glad I wasn't inside." Bobby hugged her close.

"Girl, this rivals one of your accidents." Lula said.

I glared at her. I wasn't even there for crying out loud!

The fire department and Miami-Dade police were already on the scene. The two punks were cuffed in the back of one of the squad cars by the time that we had gotten there. The cops had found marijuana on the guys and a broken bottle of whiskey (or at least a melted bottle of what they thought was whiskey) in the back seat. We drew our own conclusions about that one. Bobby and Mari were huddled on the curb, Tank and Lula were talking pretty closely themselves (they were taking it slow these days) and Lester was looking over Connie for injuries with a smile on his face. They had flirted in the past, but since we arrived, that relationship has bloomed into something.

It made my heart warm.

It also made me realize how alone I was. Each of the conversations seemed private and I could no doubt, butt in, but it just didn't seem right.

Right then, it made me miss Ranger even more.

I straightened. Ranger? I missed Ranger?

I mentally slapped myself. Of course I missed him!

Even though we talked every day, I was beginning to see that it wasn't enough. Those thoughts from earlier were creeping back and I realized that I wanted something to start with Ranger. I didn't want Joe anymore. All he wanted was something convenient. I wanted something real.

And I wanted it with Ranger. And no one else.

I sighed happily and watched the firemen do their job. It was interesting to see them work from a bystander's perspective. I was also eager to talk to my man in black tonight. We had some things to discuss.

"Some fire." A man said from behind.

"It wasn't my fault."

"What?"

I turned at looked at him. "Sorry, knee jerk reaction." He was cute, standing in at about six feet tall, with an athletic build, brown hair and eyes. The lines near his eyes crinkled. He was nice to look at, but when you've seen Ranger, something about every man sorely lacks something.

"You look familiar. Have we met?"

"I doubt it. I'm vacationing with my friends from Trenton."

"Long way from home."

"We needed some sun."

"Understandable." He nodded. "Wait a minute. I do know you. You're the Bombshell Bounty Hunter!"

Jeez. They knew of me in Florida? I blushed. "That's me."

"My wife loves you. There's a little section in our town newspaper about you each month. She reads it like the bible!"

Ah he's got a wife. That explains it.

"She's going to freak out when I tell her."

I smiled. Somehow making this woman's day made me feel a little better. "I'm Stephanie."

He shook my hand that I had offered. "Alex."

"It's nice to meet you."

He just grinned.

* * *

><p><em>Click.<em>

"What are you doing?" Bobby asked Mari. Mari had taken out her phone and began texting.

"Giving my brother some incentive to come claim his woman," she replied after hitting send. "He needs to get his head out of his ass."

Bobby nodded. "You're evil."

"This is why you like me."

* * *

><p><em>Back in Trenton…<em>

**Ranger's POV**

"Report." I said to the skeleton crew I had assembled for the afternoon meeting. Everything was quiet. No skips, no break-ins, and three more clients. Everything was looking up. The criminals were taking a vacation and business was booming.

The thought of vacation reminded me of the mental image of Stephanie in a tiny string bikini, her blue eyes sparkling with mischief. My cock twitched.

"Good. Start working on the background checks." I told one of the new hires. I hadn't learned his name yet, but I'm sure his nickname would be coming up soon.

Hal brought in the accounting guy and he started to go over boring details. I'm bringing in more money, stock in the company is up, and my other stocks are down, blah, blah, blah.

I couldn't understand why I wasn't paying attention.

The image of Stephanie reappeared.

I'm sure my eyes glazed over.

I couldn't believe that things were finally over with the cop and she's in Florida. In my room, no less. I was pretty sure she had realized the personal touches, like Ghostbusters, I put in there just for her. I wanted her to feel welcome there so that maybe someday, it would be _our_ room when we needed a vacation.

Someday…

I sighed. Who knew if Stephanie would ever be ready for someday? I knew I was ready for it, and I was going to tell her, but then she jetted away from me so fast, I still had the whiplash.

Mari was keeping tabs for me on what Stephanie was doing. Not that I asked her to! Jeez, I was pretty sure she was doing it to torture me. She was Stephanie's own personal Twitter account.

Not that we haven't been keeping in contact anyway. I made sure that I was never late for our late night calls. They were the highlight of my day.

That's when I got the recent update. Now I knew for sure that she was torturing me.

It was a picture of Stephanie holding the hand of some fireman. Mari and Tank had both filled me in on the car fire.

But then I remembered the picture and my heart sank. She was smiling and her eyes had a sparkle that used to be because of me.

I read the message then.

_Are you sure you want this to be Morelli's replacement instead of you?_

Of course my sister knew all about our little love triangle. I beat it out of Lester for a month.

My hand clenched around the phone. It wasn't going to happen again.

"Sir?" Hal asked. "What do you want to do?"

I tuned back into the conversation at hand, but of course, I had no idea what was going on.

"Sir?" Hal asked again.

I got up and grabbed my coat. "Do what you think is necessary. I have to go." I stomped out of the conference room and headed for the elevators.

I called my pilot. "Dave? Check a flight plan with control. I'm going to Florida."

* * *

><p><em>Back in the control room…<em>

"Okay, I'm in charge now." Hal said, putting his fingers through his belt loops. "And we have some very important business to attend to."

The guys in the room were quiet, waiting.

Hal held up the money clip and calendar. "Who had five days?"

The men cheered.

* * *

><p><strong>Stephanie's POV<strong>

"I'm just glad you guys are okay." I said when we had gotten home later that evening. Us girls had decided to do a little retail therapy after the accident and were bone tired. We had found some good deals and I was very happy with my purchases. Nothing like supporting the economy for a little ego boost.

Connie nodded. "I'm so sorry about the SUV though." She said to Tank.

"Don't worry about it. We'll get another one tomorrow."

Connie relaxed a little.

I looked around the living room as we laughed and joked about the day. There was no way that anything could top this.

Just then, the doorbell rang. Seeming that everyone looked comfy all paired up, I jumped up. "I'll get it."

Okay, there was one way to top it. Pizza!

Opened the door and gasped.

So I lied. There were _two_ things that could top this day.

"Hey," Ranger said, smiling. "Surprise."

Ranger holding a pizza box. Day topped.

He set the pizza inside, gently grabbed my hand and pulled me outside. Where he proceeded to give me one hell of a hello kiss.

"Hi." I managed after we had separated to gasp for air.

I'm pretty sure that just topped Ranger holding a pizza. Forget it. I'm not counting anymore.

"I know you said you needed time to figure things out, but I can't wait anymore. I've waited a long time for you to be away from Joe permanently and I'm not going to waste this. I want to be with you. Not as a rebound, but as something more. I've missed you every day since you left. You left a pretty big hole in my life, Babe."

"Me?" I squeaked. I know, that was classy of me to say. Mental head slap.

He tucked a curl behind my ear. "Yeah, you."

"But what about all that stuff about not having relationships."

"We already have one. People already think we're together. Why not make it true?"

I didn't have an answer for that. "What about loving me with a condom instead of a ring?"

"That's all I could offer you at the time. That I could commit but I wasn't ready to have you sacrifice any more than that."

"Is it because you work for the government?"

He nodded. "Yeah. But you mean worked."

"What?"

"I quit. Officially, I retired, but I told them to shove their new contract."

I blinked. "You're out?"

He smiled. "I'm out."

"This has nothing to do with me, does it?"

"It has _everything_ to do with you."

"Ranger, I don't want you to change for me. Joe tried that and I resented him for it."

"I know. I did it for me because I want to give you more than weeks of time before I go off to places unknown. I want to be around for months. For big things like birthdays and holidays. You deserve more than what I could've given you while I was still in. Now I can make good on that promise."

"I don't know what to say." And I didn't. He had given me a lot to think about.

He put his forehead on mine and closed his eyes. "You don't have to say anything. I just wanted you to know and I knew I couldn't do this over the phone."

Irony of ironies. I guess we both had a lot to say on the phone. Might as well tell him what I was going to tell him tonight. "I love you." I said quietly.

"You what?"

"I love you. I'm _in_ love with you. I don't want to be with Joe anymore. I want to be with you. I want everything you just said. I want months with you." Years, even, but I didn't want to scare him off.

He gave me a big smile. "You don't know how happy I am."

That's not exactly what I was hoping for. Oh, I don't know, maybe an I love you too would be nice. I looked up at him expectantly.

"Babe, Stephanie," he said, cupping my cheek. "I love you too. Even though it doesn't even _begin_ to cover what I feel for you." He kissed me softly again. "This isn't going to be easy." He said. "It'll be downright dangerous."

"So what else is new in our lives?"

He brought his head back. "What do you mean?"

"We're bounty hunters, Ranger. That's a dangerous job. Danger is in our blood."

He blinked. "True, but I'm going to do my damndest to protect you."

"The same goes for me too. We're going to do this together, Ranger." I said, using his words. He smiled at me when he recognized them. "And it's going to be good."

"I have no doubt it'll be amazing."

And then he kissed me again.

Things were starting to really heat up when Tank opened the door. "Stephanie? Where did you… Oh shit."

"Nice timing, man." Ranger growled.

"Hey Tank." I said, blushing really hard. "Look what I found."

He chuckled. "Good to see you. Did you just get it?"

"I thought I could use a vacation."

Tank had a big smile on his face and nodded. "We're about to have pizza. Are you two coming in or should I leave you to suck each other's faces off."

I blushed harder when my stomach growled.

Ranger grinned. "The beast has spoken." He grabbed my hand and went inside. Tank chuckled and went to tell the others about our surprise guest.

Ranger pulled me into the hallway wall. "Remember our spot because we'll pick up there later."

As if I could forget. I nodded because I was unable to speak. Ranger grinned at me and then we walked to the dining room.

"Glad to see you, big brother." Mari said, giving him a hug.

"You too." He said, hugging back. "Bobby treating you okay?" He asked so only the three of us heard. The only reason I heard was because Ranger was refusing to let go of my hand.

She smiled softly. "He's a true gentleman."

"Good."

She grinned evilly. "I see you got my text."

"You gave me some sage advice sister."

She shrugged. "All in a day's work."

I was confused. "What are you two talking about?"

"Nothing." They both said quickly. Too quickly… I narrowed my eyes.

"She took a picture of you and the hot fireman!" Lula said around a piece of pizza.

Glad to know I could count on Lula. Mari blushed and Ranger refused to look at me.

"You mean Alex? His wife reads something in the paper about my antics. He knew she'd love it if he said he met me today so I talked to him for a little while. Who knew I was a hit in Florida?"

Ranger looked up at me and then at Mari. "Married?"

She shrugged. "Clearly you didn't look at the picture hard enough, Carlos."

He smiled. "I should kill you for that… but I think I'll thank you instead."

"Good choice." And she flounced away.

I hugged Ranger to me. Actually, Ranger let me hug him to me. "So how much did the picture influence the fact that you couldn't wait anymore."

"It was pretty even there for a few hours."

"Uh huh. You're cute when you're jealous."

"Glad you think so, Babe." He gave me a soft kiss. "Let's eat."


	8. Chapter 8

Yay! I'm posting again! I wish it was earlier this week, but sometimes these things can't be helped. I'm going through a little bought of writer's block, so please bear with me as I battle through it.

Not mine.

* * *

><p>The sun shining through the windows woke me up the next morning. I sighed and stretched, one hand going to the other side of the bed, searching for Ranger. When my hand met cool sheets, I instantly remembered the sweet kiss hours before when he went for a jog on the beach. He tried to get me to go with him but I blatantly told him that the only thing I would get up at six in the morning for was sex.<p>

He grinned and filed that away for later use.

I smiled warmly at the thought of last night. After dinner, we all decided to watch a movie. I don't remember much of it because I was too focused on the circles Ranger was drawing on my thigh.

Of course I reciprocated.

If he can be bad, so can I.

The movie ended late so we all said good night and went our separate ways. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ranger lift his eyebrow when Lester put his arm around Connie.

"What's that for?" I asked him.

"When did that happen?"

I looked over. "A couple of days ago. Why?"

"I worry about Connie getting hurt. Lester is a…"

I looked at him as he struggled for the right word. "Is what?"

He huffed and narrowed his eyes. "How do I put this delicately…"

"A manslut?" I offered.

He looked at me for a moment and blinked. "That's one way of putting it."

"I think it's the only way." I grinned at him. "Besides, I think Connie's perfect for him. She's got the attitude and she won't take his usual crap. She's good for him."

"I worry about the Family getting involved." It was true. Connie was pretty well connected to the Mob in Trenton. But then again, all Italians were to some degree. I'm pretty sure I had a third cousin, twice removed who used to do their books.

"Don't. Connie would never get them involved. Besides, she's more of a take charge kind of girl. She'll hurt him herself."

Ranger raised a brow again.

"Remember the story when I hit Joe with the Buick?" I was 18 and he wrote about how he took my virginity.

He grinned. "I love that story. That's my favorite story."

"I didn't want to kill him. Connie? She won't miss."

Ranger's grin widened. "I think you're right. They're perfect." He took my hand and led me up the stairs.

"Come on, let's go to bed."

I decided that before I went to sleep, I needed a shower. After showering, I went to the closet where Ranger was hanging his clothes.

"You know, for a short visit, you sure did bring a lot." He said.

"A burg girl is always prepared." I replied, pushing past him to get to my pajamas. I pulled out Ranger's shirt that I had stolen from him and put it on. He was smiling softly at me.

"What?"

"I thought Ella had lost that shirt."

"Well you found it." I said, being coy. "You want it back?"

His eyes darkened and he stepped closer. "Desperately."

We stared at each other for a minute, standing close enough that I could feel the body heat coming off his skin. I was waiting for him to make the first move, while secretly screaming, 'well? What are you waiting for? Get me naked NOW!'

Ranger stepped closer. Some of the heat had faded in his eyes. Oh shit, now I feel it. There was a big but coming with this.

"But…"

See?

"Not now."

"I'm sorry what?"

He sighed and cupped my face. "Babe."

Oh man, this was going to be bad. I can feel it. Suddenly, I felt this overwhelming fear I used to get when Dickie used to say not tonight. It usually meant he had met Joyce and was too tired to have sex with me too. For the first time ever in Ranger's presence, I felt undesirable.

And it scared me.

Ranger's eyes got wide. Well they widened marginally, but for Ranger, that was a huge muscle movement. No botox for my Batman. "Don't think like that." He said.

"Think like what?" I asked, mentally checking to make sure that I'd had that conversation in my head. As far as I could tell, I had.

"That I don't want you."

I bit my lip and looked down, ashamed.

"It's all over your face, the disappointment and fear. You have _no idea_ how much I want you. How good you look in my shirt and how it makes me want to push you up against that wall and fuck you until you're blind. But I won't."

He touched my chin, indicating that he wanted me to look at him. Obligingly, I did.

"I have bigger plans for you, Stephanie Plum."

"Huh?" I could slap myself for saying that.

"I want to do this right this time. Last time we started with sex. This time I want to woo you."

"Woo me?"

He nodded once. "You know, go out on dates, bring flowers, small talk, being nervous if I'm going to get a good night kiss. I never really did that. I just took whatever woman gave me. I want to do that all with you."

"I never really did that either."

His brow furrowed. "Even with Dickie?" He knew that Joe and I didn't do the whole date thing. He considered Pino's and the game as foreplay.

I shook my head. "He took me out a few times to nice restaurants when we first started dating, but not many. There was no real woo action going on."

"Then I'm going to do it right."

"Ranger, you do _everything_ right." I said, batting my eyelashes at him.

He grinned. "Get ready to have the pants wooed off of you."

"Can I get that in writing?"

He sighed and rubbed his palm gently across my cheek. "I want you to promise me that you'll never feel that again. I'm _always_ going to want you."

I have a great bullshit meter. It got really good while I was dating Joe. I looked into Ranger's eyes and saw that he was sincere.

"Even when I'm old and look like Grandma Mazur?"

He laughed. "Even then. I just hope that you'll be as horny as your Grandma."

There was a good chance of that. "Okay, I promise."

His smile widened and he leaned in for one big, hot, sexy kiss. It promised me all the things Ranger and I had talked about and more.

My belly warmed at the thought of more.

The sound of a woman's laugh brought me out of my reverie. I grabbed the robe and headed to the balcony, thinking it was Mari or Connie.

Only it wasn't.

Ranger and a mystery woman were standing out in the grass by the pool smiling and talking animatedly. The woman said something now and Ranger laughed.

My stomach dropped a little.

I shook my head. There was no reason for me to be jealous. I knew in my heart that Ranger loved me and that he was better than any man I had dated before him. He wasn't going to cheat.

Feeling a little stronger, I decided I wanted to meet this woman who was crashing my vacation. I did my business in the bathroom and, okay sue me, I added a touch of make-up.

At least I decided against the eyeliner.

Making sure that my make-up was as natural as possible (because who really sleeps in lip gloss?), I headed out. I didn't want to meet her looking like I had just rolled out of bed!

As I walked closer, I looked at the woman more closely. She had short brown hair, dark skin and wide hazel eyes. There was something familiar about her that I couldn't place just yet…

But before I reached them, I had my answer.

"Stephanie!" I young girl came bounding up to me and grasped me in a big hug.

"Julie!" I said when I had regained some of my voice. I hugged her back. "What are you doing here?"

"Mom wanted to stop by and see Ranger. I didn't have school today so I thought I'd tag along." Julie and I have been e-mailing back and forth for some time now and I knew her school was trying the year round method.

"Well it's really good to see you kiddo. I almost didn't recognize you." It was true. Julie, now thirteen, was turning into a beautiful woman in front of my eyes. She looked more like Ranger than the last time I saw her. Once she got into high school, she'd be beating them back with a stick.

Ranger picked that moment to come join us. He smiled at me (and I'm sure my made up face) and kissed me lightly. "Morning."

"Hi."

Julie rolled her eyes. So she wasn't so grown up. Parent PDA still grossed her out. I was so glad that my parents never did that. We show affection with food.

My heart stopped for a second. Was I actually thinking about myself as Julie's parent? Ranger and I had just started our relationship, but, it felt right.

Hmm, more to think about.

I turned to Rachel. "Hi Rachel. It's good to see you."

"It's good to see you too." Close up, I recognized Julie's mother. In my defense, the last time I saw her, was when Julie was kidnapped by Scrog. It was good to see her in a happier situation. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything, but when Ranger told me he was flying down here, I needed him to look over some security stuff for the house."

I shook my head. "It's completely fine. How are you?"

"Really good. The twins are going into middle school next year and Ron got a promotion."

"How great!"

While Rachel and I caught up, Ranger stood there with his arm around my shoulder, smiling softly. Mari had come over and taken Julie inside.

"You know, I thought he would never man up." She said to me, pointing at Ranger who was now talking quietly with Lester. "When I met you in the hospital, I knew right then that you were special."

I blushed.

"When I first met him, he was wild and rough around the edges. Now, he's more put together. You've changed him Stephanie. For the better. You have no idea how happy that makes me."

I wasn't sure what to say, but Rachel went on.

"He wasn't ready to be a father and I couldn't abort the baby. And when I met Ron, I think he was secretly happy. He wouldn't have to do much and that suited his lifestyle. But now, he's more settled and I hope that he can have a better relationship with Julie. I know you've been pushing him to call her once a week and I'll be forever grateful. It wouldn't have been right for her not to know her biological father and family. I'd like to think of it as practice for when he's ready to have more children."

Thinking about a baby normally chilled me to the bone. But when I thought about having Ranger's baby, I didn't seem to feel that. Sure, kids still scare the crap out of me, but I wasn't getting the hives that I normally got.

We talked for a few more minutes and then they had to leave. Julie may not have been in school, but she still had homework to finish.

Ranger came over and hugged my waist.

"It was nice to see Rachel." I said.

"Mmhmm."

"Julie's getting so tall now."

"Yeah."

I turned in his arms. "What's with the answers?"

"You always wear lip gloss to bed?"

"Sure." I put my chin out. "I like my lips to be silky soft."

He kissed me. "Well mission accomplished." He licked his lips. "Hmm, cherry." He grinned at my blushing face. "You're cute when you're jealous."

"I couldn't see her very well!" I bit my lip. I was remembering the promise I had made him last night and I was sure that he was too. "I want you to know that I didn't think…"

He cut me off with a kiss. "I know."

"I trust you."

"I trust you too."

I grinned. "Besides, even if I knew it was Rachel from the balcony, I still would've put lip gloss on. Presentation is everything."

"Glad to know you have your priorities straight."

I punched him in the shoulder. He didn't even flinch. Bastard.

Ranger grinned. "Next time, I'll try to act like you hurt me."

I rolled my eyes. Men.


	9. Chapter 9

Yay! Another chapter! Sorry I've been lax in my updating. I've been battling with writer's block and having to deal with my recent addiction to True Blood which has thrown me off a little plus trying to read as many books in two different series's before I go back to school is pretty time consuming. So I apologize and I'm letting you all know that there might not be an update until after next week. I move in on Sunday and classes start Monday, so I _hope_ to have something to post, but I make no promises.

So without further ado... please enjoy!

Not mine.

* * *

><p>"So I was thinking that maybe you'd like to go out tonight. Like a date." Ranger said, putting his hands in his pockets. I couldn't believe it. He was nervous. In all the time that I've known Ranger, I've never actually seen him nervous.<p>

I smiled. "I'd really like that."

He smiled back. "Good."

"Did you actually think I'd say no?" I asked him as we were walking back to the house.

"It crossed my mind. You always find a way to surprise me, Stephanie Plum."

"Good to know. So is it fancy or can I wear a nice skirt or…?"

"Wear whatever you like. You look beautiful in anything."

"That's very sweet, but I don't want to stick out like a sore thumb."

He grinned again. "Don't worry. I have you covered for every occasion."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Dress and find out."

"You're really not going to tell me?"

"Nope."

"Mean."

He smiled widely now.

Five hours later, I was staring at my closet, hoping the right outfit would jump up and attack me.

Unfortunately, it didn't.

"Well it's official." Mari said when she came into my room. "I hate him."

"Who?"

"My brother. He wouldn't tell me anything. He just smiled and said 'nice try'. It's not like I was spying for you!"

"But you were."

She huffed. "Semantics."

Lula and Connie followed in after her. "So Tank's got nothing." Lula said. "Batman's keeping this one to himself."

I sighed and put my hands on my hips. "Thanks for the help, guys, but I still don't know what I'm going to wear."

"What about the black dress? It's fancy for a really nice restaurant but simple enough to be casual. It fits both categories."

I looked at the dress. "I like it."

Soon after, I shooed them out to get ready. After pampering myself within an inch of my sanity, I deemed myself ready. I slipped the dress on, gave my hair one final fluff and smiled. Damn, I looked good.

Ranger knocked on my door a few seconds later. I opened the door and licked my lips. He was looking sexy in a black suit with a grey shirt. His hair was down, exactly how I liked it.

Ranger smiled at me. "I got these for you." He said, pulling a bouquet of red roses from behind his back.

I laughed. "They're beautiful. But I don't…" I laughed again when he pulled a vase from behind his back. "So thoughtful…" I took the roses, added water and sat them on the nightstand.

"Good place."

"I think so."

"Ready?" He held out his arm.

I took it. "Ready."

Ranger took me to a lovely Italian place that reminded me of Rossini's with the red paint and low lighting. It was very romantic and my dress was perfect. The waiter led us to a table in the back and I wasn't surprised when Ranger put his back to the wall.

"I have to ask, did you have multiple reservations tonight and based on what I was wearing, that's where we'd go?"

He laughed and took a sip of the wine the waiter had just brought over. "Something like that."

"You know, you could've just picked one place and told me what to wear."

"I wanted you to feel relaxed, Babe, not have you worry about whether your dress fits a certain code. I wanted you to look sexy without the anxiety of looking out of place." He looked me over and his eyes darkened. "And if I do say so, you passed with flying colors."

I blushed. "You don't look half bad yourself."

He grinned. The waitress dropped her tray. I snickered. "Do you know what your smile does to people?"

He glanced at the waitress before looking back at me. "What do you mean?"

"You smile and every woman and gay man within a mile radius drops something or runs into a wall."

"They really should watch where they're walking then."

"Well they can't help it. You're so much sexier when you smile."

He leaned closer to me. "You don't seem to be affected."

"That's because I'm immune. Your charms don't work on me."

"Oh really." He leaned in and licked my earlobe.

I shivered.

"Not so immune now, are you." He grinned at me.

"At least I can still remember my name after you do that."

Ranger leaned back and laughed now. "You never disappoint."

The rest of the night was spent talking and flirting. It was the best date I'd had in fifteen years. After dinner, we met up with the rest of the gang for some dancing. I always knew that Ranger would be a superb dancer. Anything you can do rhythmically horizontally, you can do well vertically.

When we got back to the house, Ranger walked me to my door.

"It was very sweet of you to walk me." I said with a joking smile on my face.

"My pleasure. I had a really great time."

"Me too."

We stood there for a second, and then Ranger took my hand. "I've been waiting to do this all night." And he leaned in and kissed me.

Ranger can kiss many different ways, depending on his mood. This one, however, was oddly deceptive. It was sweet and tender with a side of hot and spicy. I could tell he wanted me, but we both knew that it would go no further than the door.

When we pulled away, Ranger smiled. "That was worth the wait."

I couldn't talk, so I nodded. His smile got bigger. "Goodnight, Babe."

"Night." As I stumbled into my bedroom, I could hear him chuckle.

I sighed tiredly. It had been a long, but great day. Not bothering with anything more than taking off my shoes, I slid into the bed.

And slept.

* * *

><p>"I don't know how much longer I can sit here." I heard a voice whisper. "Go wake her up."<p>

"Shhh!" That came from someone else. "I think she's coming around."

"Who knew she was such a heavy sleeper?"

"Give her some credit! It's early."

I groaned and rolled onto my back. And screamed.

"What the hell guys!"

Mari, Connie and Lula all looked at me bashfully. "It was Lula's idea." Connie said.

"Hey!"

I rubbed my eyes. "What time is it?"

"A little after seven." Mari said, handing me a cup of coffee. "Freshly brewed."

I yawned and took a sip. "So, what's up?"

"How'd it go?"

I looked at them blankly. My brain wasn't firing on all pistons yet. "Huh?"

"The date! How'd it go!"

Oh right. I should've guessed. "You couldn't wait till breakfast?"

They looked at each other. "No."

"How do you know that Ranger wasn't in here naked?"

"Because Bobby and I heard him all night pacing the guest bedroom."

"And while we're on that subject, why isn't he here?" Lula asked.

"Because." I said, blushing.

"Oh shit. It doesn't work anymore. I knew this would happen to a sexy man like him!"

I rolled my eyes. "_It _works just fine."

"Thank goodness." She sighed with relief. "So why then…?"

"We're taking things slow."

"Slow?" Lula looked less than impressed. "The man doesn't know the meaning of the word slow."

"Well he must have learned it because he didn't even pressure me to let him in."

Connie and Lula looked shocked. Mari just smiled into her cup.

"I don't get it." Lula said.

"Me either. I mean he always looks at her like he's going to take her against the wall any second." Connie replied.

I just sipped my coffee and waited for them to finish.

Mari sat down her empty cup. "Why don't you leave us alone for a second?"

"But…"

"Out."

Connie and Lula reluctantly got up and left, sighing the whole way. Then Mari turned to me.

"He really loves you." She said.

I just blinked at her.

"I know all about my brother's reputation. Carlos doesn't do relationships. He just uses women for sex. Normally I'd find that appalling, but the women want it as much as he does, so there's equal fault here. But with you he's taking his time. He's doing the opposite of what he normally does. He really wants this to work."  
>There was no need to mention that we've already had sex, right? "I really want this to work too."<p>

She nodded. "I can see that. He's a hard person to love. Sometimes it's downright excruciating because he doesn't share a lot of anything. But in the end, it's worth it. I'm telling you all of this because I like you and I don't want one little thing to screw up what is probably the best thing to happen to my brother since Julie."

I warmed at the comment. "I appreciate the confidence."

"You've earned it. I've never seen him act like this before and I hope he never stops. It was hard while he was away in the Rangers. When we'd see him at the occasional holiday, he only seemed to be about half there. But with you, it's like he found the other piece of himself. He's my brother again. He's whole. And there is no way I can thank you for that."

"There's no need to thank me." Ranger did that every day by breathing.

"Well in any case, I want you to know that I think of you as my sister and I always will, no matter what."

In a rare sign of affection, I hugged her. "I think of you as my sister too."

When she leaned away, she wiped a few tears off her face. She went to the door and got Lula and Connie from their rooms. "Now, I want to hear all about your date. Where did he take you?"

"Well, we went to this really cute Italian restaurant…" I started as Connie and Lula took seats on the bed.

And we sat there, like sisters, the friends I already considered my sisters and my new one, talking and laughing.


	10. Chapter 10

Ugh, I am _such_ a bad updater! I apologize to all of you for taking this long. I've been getting back into the swing of school and still fighting some writer's block. I was having some real trouble with this one. I wasn't sure where I wanted to go with it. On the upside, it turned out _so much _better than I had actually hoped for! Yay!

Hopefully the next update won't take three weeks.

Please enjoy and review when you've finished.

Not mine.

* * *

><p>"Hmm, I must be dreaming." I said when Ranger put a grape to my lips.<p>

"Why's that?" He asked, munching on his own grape.

"Because you're feeding me tasty food." I opened one eye and saw him smirking. "Except you're usually naked. Why aren't you naked?"

His smirk turned to full on grin. "I can get naked if you want."

I liked the sound of that. "All in due time."

He laughed and put another grape to my lips. I took the grape, closed my eye and relaxed back onto the blanket he had spread on the beach.

Ranger had surprised me with date four by making a picnic lunch. Date two was dinner and a movie. I'm not sure what the movie was about because Ranger spent most of the time distracting me with his tongue down my throat.

Not that I'm complaining. Personally, that was the highlight of the evening.

Date three was probably my favorite date so far. He took me mini-golfing. I know, Ranger and mini-golf in the same sentence is pretty funny.

"I'm not sure I'm holding this right." I said, pouting over my shoulder at Ranger. He just grinned at me. "Can you help me?"

Ranger came up behind me and I wiggled my butt into his crotch. "Careful Babe, don't start something you can't finish." He said huskily.

"Oh, don't fret, I have _every _intention of finishing it. Just name the time and place."

He nipped at my ear. "I'll keep that in mind." He placed my hands on the club. "This is how you hold it."

I turned and looked at him. "Thank you."

He grinned and backed up. I took my first shot and wiggled my butt again for him. I heard him chuckle.

I won by a few strokes, but I was sure Ranger let me win.

"I'm not sure you can top this." I said, smiling at him.

He grinned at me and leaned down for a kiss. "I'm sure I'll think of something."

I rolled to my stomach. "Explain something to me. How'd you get everyone out of the house?" Whenever me and Ranger try to have some alone time, one of our chaperones manages to find us. I'm pretty sure they thought cock blocking was an amusing way to spend their day.

"I bribed them."

I sat up on my elbows. "You _bribed_ them?"

"Sure," he said, shrugging. "How else was I going to get them to leave?"

"With what?"

"The guys took cash. I gave the girls a car and a spa day."

I pouted. "I want a spa day."

"I'll give you a massage any time you want."

I shivered. "I like the sound of that."

He leaned in for another kiss when we felt the first droplets of rain. "Time to go in."

We packed the things and ran back to the house to beat the rain. Unfortunately, the rain came faster than we anticipated and when the clouds opened, it poured. I stopped on the porch and Ranger looked back at me.

"What are you doing?" Ranger asked from the door.

I looked up the sky and laughed. "It feels nice."

"You're crazy. Come in before you catch a cold."

It would be worth it. I looked at him. "Come here."

He shook his head.

I laughed. "Chicken?"

He mock glared and joined me. "This is a really bad idea."

"When did you become such a hypochondriac?" She huffed. "Close your eyes and feel."

He did and a small smile graced his face.

"See? You know it feels nice."

"Smart ass."

"You love my ass."

"That's not what I love most."

I grinned up at him. "You want to broaden my horizons right now?"

Ranger gave me his wolf grin. "How can I do that?"

"Kiss me."

His brow furrowed. "You've never been kissed in the rain?"

I shook my head.

He cupped my face. "Well, let's remedy that." And he pressed his lips to mine.

The kiss was delicious. His soft lips caressed mine as the intensity shot up to a whole new level. He nipped at my bottom lip and I gasped, giving his tongue room to enter my mouth. I moaned as his tongue stroked mine.

Ranger's eyes were black, pleasure written all over his face, when we came apart for air. I gasped and my belly warmed, knowing that my face was mirroring his. Ranger gently nuzzled his nose near mine with our lips barely touching, silently asking permission.

This was it! I was finally going to have Ranger back in my pants! My doodah started to sing the Hallelujah chorus.

I smiled, turning my head and…

I sneezed.

Ranger grinned. I blushed. After a second, I opened my mouth to apologize when I sneezed again.

How embarrassing. I didn't want to look at him, fearing the worst.

He put a finger on my chin and forced me to look at him.

"Bless you." He said, still grinning.

"Jeez." I rolled my eyes. "How sexy was that?"

He shrugged. "I've had worse."

I punched him in the gut. "Not funny."

"But true." He grabbed my hand and we rushed inside.

"Ack, I feel gross now." I said, trying to wring out my now soaked clothes.

"Well you wouldn't feel that way if you hadn't stood in the rain." Ranger had gone into the kitchen and started to put the remnants from our picnic away.

"Sure, but then I wouldn't have had one of my top ten kisses. I would've missed that."

Ranger peeked around the corner. "Top ten?"

"Sure," I said, shrugging. "It was good, but I've had better."

Now I know it is very dangerous when I bait the tiger, but something inside of me didn't care. Bad Stephanie was out to play.

Ranger wiped his hands on a towel and came out to where I was standing. "Well what's number one?"

"When Eddie Gazzara kissed me for my first kiss. I was six."

He smiled at me. "I'll give you that one. But if Joe is number two…"

"Well…" I smiled at him.

"Smartass." He grabbed me around the waist and pulled me close for a deep kiss. The kiss was hot and sexy, just like Ranger.

"Hmm, definitely number two worthy."

Ranger chuckled. "Good to know, Babe. You want to know what my number one is?"

"Is it with Joe?"

He smacked my ass. "You think you're so clever."

"Nah, I know it."

He kissed me again. "My number one is our first kiss. That's when I realized I'd do anything to get you naked."

"And you tried pretty much everything."

"Thank God the deal worked because I was running out of ideas. It was tough to get into your pants."

"Please." I scoffed. "If you had known the thoughts I had about you. It really wasn't so tough."

He grinned widely. "I had my suspicions. But what you were thinking and what you actually did were two different things."

"I had to keep you on your toes, Batman."

"Well you did a very good job of that." He started to kiss me again, each one hotter than the next. I moaned into his mouth when he unsnapped my jeans and caressed the skin underneath.

Oh boy!

Only… not.

"Damn, it's really pouring out there!" Lester said when he opened the door. He was shaking the water off of his hair.

Ranger sighed and put his head on my shoulder. "I want to kill him, but he's the best at his job."

I giggled.

He kissed my forehead. "Soon. I'm not sure how much longer I can go without touching you."

I nodded back. It was getting harder every day to not walk up to him and just rip his clothes off.

"Hello? Anybody home?" Lester called. He peeked his head in. "Found them! We were going to order in. Any preferences?"

"Chinese?" I said, not taking my eyes off of Ranger. His sparkled and danced, clearly remembering the last time we had Chinese.

"Sounds good to me."

"Great. I'll get the menu." Lester said.

"I have something to show you." Ranger said, pulling out his wallet. It was surprisingly dry. Not that I wasn't surprised. Like water would dare dampen Batman. Inside, he pulled out a small piece of paper. "I kept it." He said.

I looked at it. It was his fortune from that night. I laughed and Ranger's brow furrowed. I shook my head. "I kept mine too."

Ranger's face smoothed into a smile. "Like minds…"

"Very true." He put it back in his wallet. "After you left, I would pull it out sometimes and look at it. It was nice having something that reminded me of you so close."

"Like me and your soap." I said before I could stop myself. I slapped my hand over my mouth.

Ranger just grinned. "I knew about that. I made sure Ella stocked up for you."

I sighed. "She's too good for me."

"I say the same thing about you."

Aww… "Sometimes I wonder what you're doing with a spaz like me."

He tucked a curl behind my ear. "You have your own style. That's what drew me to you."

Again, aww. "That's what drew me. Your big heart." I stopped him when he opened his mouth. "You may not think it, but you do. All of your men do. Because if you didn't, you wouldn't waste your time on me, helping me when I needed it. Making sure I'm okay even when I blow something of yours up."

He caressed my cheek. "You'll always be my first priority. No matter what's going on."

"Good to know."

Lester popped back in. "We're watching _Tropic Thunder_. You guys in?"

"Oh I am _so_ there!" I said, grabbing Ranger's hand and running all the way to the living room.


	11. Chapter 11

Yay, it didn't take three weeks this time! I'm very excited for this chapter and the fact that I seem to have my mojo back. In celebration, I made this chapter longer. Hopefully I can get the next one out by next Monday!

Not mine.

Warning: Smut. Ranger had enough waiting. Don't like it, skip the end.

* * *

><p>"I need your help." I said to Mari after I pulled her into the kitchen.<p>

"Jeez. Watch the tugging!" She rubbed her arm. "You almost pulled it out of the socket."

"Sorry." I blushed. "I didn't realize…"

"What's up?"

I told her my plan. Our little vacation was coming to a fast end, and the girls and I decided that we wanted to stay for another week. After finding out that Harry had no problem with this, we immediately started to make plans. Tonight, date eight, was going to be _the _night.

I was finally going to get Ranger naked.

Mari smiled. "You need me to get everyone out of the house tonight."

I nodded. "And I need you to keep them out as long as possible."

"Are you going to seduce my brother tonight?"

I blushed again and nodded.

"Finally. I think he doubled the water bill by himself."

I rolled my eyes. "Jeez."

"Okay, so you're going to need a spa day, a new dress, and new lingerie. What are you making for dinner?"

"My mother gave me her spaghetti sauce recipe. I'm going to do a few things differently to make it healthier."

"I'm pretty sure if it was deep fried and covered in chocolate sauce, my brother would still eat it because you made it."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Okay, I'll get the other girls and we'll get you into the spa ASAP. Before that, we'll stop at Victoria's Secret and then drop you off. While you do that, we'll go grocery shopping and get you a dress. Then we'll come get you and the girls and I will get the boys out and you and Ranger will be all alone. Sound good?"

"Sounds perfect."

Lula and Connie were brought in on the plan and they saw me off to the spa an hour later, leaving the boys confused on the couch. At least I managed to give Ranger a quick kiss before being shoved out the door.

"I want her to get everything." Mari said to the secretary, shoving her credit card over the counter.

"I can…"

"No you don't. The girls and I treating you. It's about time someone else took care of you for a change. You've been doing it for far too long."

I lowered my eyes. There was no way that I was going to win this fight. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." She smiled at me. "Cheer up. I'm not sending you to the slaughter. I'm just making sure you're all pampered for my brother."

The secretary eyed us curiously, clearly not understanding the situation. "Your masseuse will be with you shortly."

"Thanks."

Mari turned me. "Okay, so we'll go get the groceries and your dress. Anything else you need?"

I shook my head. "Nope, that's everything."

"Good. We'll be back at three." The masseuse came to retrieve me. "Have fun."

"No problem."

Three hours later, I was coming out of the facial room smiling. After being plucked, waxed and buffed to within an inch of my life, this was the best day ever. My hair was curling softly around my shoulders and my skin had a nice glow to it. I had my nails painted dark blue to match my dress. The girls smiled at me.

"Damn, girl." Lula said.

"You look good." Connie added.

Mari smiled and nodded.

"And I'm not even dressed yet."

"Ranger's going to plotz when he sees you." Lula said.

"Plotz?"

"You know, have a heart attack."

"Ah." I looked at my watch. "We better get going."

"Now, I got the boys to help me out and they took him for some male bonding thing." Mari said when we got back into the car.

"Please," Lula scoffed. "They went paintballing."

"That's male bonding. They get to spit and banter or whatever guys do when they bond. So you'll have the whole house to yourself. They also took the clothes I picked out for him."

I snorted. "You picked out Ranger's clothes?"

"Sure did. I didn't want him to get wind of our plan."

"You mean, Operation Get Ranger Nekkid?" Lula chimed in.

Connie rolled her eyes. "Only you would name it."

"Girl, every good plan has to have a good name."

"Okay, sure."

"So they should bring him back around seven. Is that enough time?"

I nodded. "It should be. The recipe itself isn't very hard."

Mari nodded. She pulled out her phone and texted Bobby. He replied and she smiled. "Seven works for them."

"Then I should get to work right away."

I spent the rest of the afternoon cooking and getting everything ready. My mother, to say the least, was shocked when I asked her for Great Grandma's recipe.

"This is a family recipe. I don't want Ella to have it."

I sighed. "That's okay mom, I'm making it."

There was a pregnant pause. "You're making it?"

"Yes."

"Willingly?"

I sighed again. "Yes."

"Well I'll be."

"Mom, it's no big deal…"

"It is a very big deal, young lady. I remembered when I gave your sister her first recipe to cook for Steve. He proposed a few weeks later."

I didn't have the heart to remind her how that marriage ended. "Uh huh."

"He always said it was her cooking that made him marry her."

Huh, I always thought it was Angie. I slapped myself at the rude thought. "I don't want Ranger to propose. I just wanted to do something special."

She was quiet again. "You really love him, don't you? You would've never done this for Joe."

"He would've gotten the wrong idea. Ranger will just find it amusing."

"And that's what you want. I get that now. So here it is. First you take three large tomatoes and…"

Thankfully, the sauce was simmering and not burning. My pasta was boiling and the salad was tossed. I had even left a bottle of wine open to breathe.

And people say I can't cook.

I used a free moment to finish getting ready myself. I put the new lingerie on, then the strapless midnight blue dress. It made my eyes pop even without makeup. I decided then to put on a few coats of mascara and lip gloss and deem myself ready. I slipped the FMP's on as I headed back downstairs to check on the food.

Exactly at seven, the front door opened. "Babe?" Ranger called.

"Kitchen!" I shouted back.

He stepped into the doorway and smiled. "What are you doing?"

"Surprise! I'm cooking!"

"I can see that. I'm glad the house is still standing too."

"Shut up. I'm going to rock your socks off."

He came up behind me and hugged me. "I'm sure you will. Everything smells delicious."

"Get a glass of wine and dinner should be ready soon."

"So what do I get the honor of your home cooking?" Ranger asked as we sat down to eat.

"Well, I thought we'd do something a little different for this date."

He nodded and took a sip of wine. "I gotta say, Babe. Everything's delicious."

"Thanks. You sound surprised." I took a sip of my own wine.

"Not surprised, per say. I just always thought that you couldn't cook."

"I can make sandwiches."

"That doesn't count."

True enough. "It's not that I _can't _cook. I just choose not to. I had my mother walk me through it."

Ranger looked surprised. "Really."

"I can follow orders with the best of them."

"Really." He said again.

"Yes really."

"Because I remember a time when I told you to turn over and you climbed on top of me instead."

I blushed. "That was different. And you enjoyed it."

"Very much."

I blushed harder. Ranger grinned, his eyes black and twinkling.

When we had finished, we spent some more time talking. We both knew that there was no rush tonight.

Of course, I was excited to get to the main event.

"So what's for dessert?" Ranger asked.

I frowned. "I thought you didn't eat dessert."

"Well when you're cooking, I figure I can make an exception."

"I didn't really have anything planned."

"That's too bad." Ranger said. Then he pulled me onto his lap. "I guess I'll just have to have you."

My mouth opened and shut like a fish. Ranger just grinned and captured my lips with his.

I rush of heat started from my head and worked its way to my toes. I moaned and leaned in closer when I felt my panties dampen.

Ranger leaned his head back and smiled. "I would very much like to make love to you."

I didn't know what to say so I just nodded. Ranger started to kiss me again and at the same time, he picked me up and headed for the stairs.

By the time he had reached my room, he had unzipped my dress and unsnapped my bra while I had unbuttoned his shirt and pants. Ranger shut the door and plastered me to it. I moaned at the feeling of him hard on my thigh.

He quickly stripped us of our clothes and he carried me over to the bed, dropping me with a bounce. I giggled and opened my legs wider.

"Jesus, you're beautiful." Ranger was standing at the edge of the bed, pondering his next move.

I crooked my finger. "Come here."

Ranger climbed onto the bed and crawled towards me like a panther on the hunt. Grinning, he kissed his way to me.

When he had reached my face, Ranger clasped his hands in mine, bringing them above my head. He kissed me deeply again and I arched my hips into his.

"Patience," he whispered huskily.

"I remember the last time we had patience. We were almost caught by Lester."

"That won't happen this time."

"Why? Because they're out for the night?"

He shook his head. "I locked the door."

"Good thinking Batman."

"I have my moments."

I smiled before his lips descended down on mine. Ranger clasped my hands in one of his and the other set a trail of fire down my skin all the way to my core. He groaned when he felt how wet I was.

"_Dios_." He said, pushing one of his fingers into me. I felt my eyes glaze over. He pushed the digit in and out at a slow pace. I whimpered when he pulled it out, but shrieked in pleasure when he buried himself to the hilt. I shivered at the feeling of him so deep inside of me.

Ranger put his forehead on mine, panting. "You feel so good." He groaned. "I'd forgotten how much."

I panted and kissed any skin I could get my lips on. "Ranger please." I pleaded.

"Please what, quierda?"

"Move?"

He gently moved out. "Like that?"

"Mmm," I moaned.

He stopped moving. Man, he was making this tough. "What now?" He asked me.

I looked up at him and grinned. "If you wanted me to drive, all you had to do was put me in the driver's seat."

He shoved himself back in. I moaned. "Not happening." He started moving in controlled thrusts. I arched my breasts into his chest, my nipples hardening at the feeling of skin on skin.

"I thought you liked me on top." I said, pouting a little and clenching my inner muscles around him.

He half laughed, half groaned. "I _love_ when you're on top, but I want to feel you come under me this time." His hand released mine and went to my nipple while the other found my clit. His thrusts sped up.

I moaned and clawed at his back. "Carlos," I breathed.

His cock swelled and he sped up even more. I reveled in the feeling.

The finger on my clit sped up in time with his thrusts and I felt the first tremors of orgasm hit me. I cried out and arched back as the pleasure took me over, my legs tightening around his hips.

Carlos had slowed his thrusts, but hadn't come. I felt my brow furrow in worry and question. He shook his head and smiled at me as he rolled onto his back.

"_Now_ you can drive."

I grinned back at him. "I knew there was a reason I loved you."

"You mean you love me for more than my biting wit?"

"Mmhmm." I planted my knees on either side of his hips and lowered myself on my elbows. I kissed him. "I pretty much picked you because you're pretty to look at and okay in the sack."

He grinned. "Oh yeah? Considering that I'll have claw marks on my back tomorrow, I think I'm _more_ than okay."

If I wasn't so turned on, I would've blushed. "Mm, we'll see."

He laughed this time which caused him to twitch inside of me. Still reeling from my last orgasm, I moaned. I kissed him once more, then I sat up and began to ride him. He groaned low in his chest and his hands grabbed my hips. I leaned closer to him, pinching his nipples and changing the angle and his eyes rolled back into his head while he started to speak in Spanish. It sounded dirty and I felt a gush of wetness coat my thighs.

Using one of his hands, he found my clit again and I sat up, flinging my head back and moaned loudly.

"I love when you make that sound." Carlos said, sitting up to nibble on my neck. I wrapped my legs around his hips and continued to ride him.

The hand that was on my hip slid up to my hair and tugged, forcing me to bare my neck. I moaned as Carlos bit down and marked me. His fingers tugged my clit and I went over the edge again, this time bringing Carlos over with me. He groaned and held his hips to mine as his orgasm took him, huskily moaning my name. His warmth pulsed into me, sending me off again and I bit his shoulder.

He pulled out and gently settled me back onto the bed, nestling himself behind me. I pulled the hand that was on my hip to my lips and kissed his fingers.

"Hmm," he sighed. "That was well worth the wait."

I had to agree. That was the best couple weeks of foreplay I've had with my clothes on ever. "Yeah. We should hold off more often."

He chuckled and nipped my shoulder. "If we held off any longer, I was worried you'd end up in a diabetic coma."

"Hey, it's not my fault that you decided that wooing involved no sex. I had to subsidize somehow. On the upside, I don't feel the need to eat my weight in snowballs anymore."

Carlos chuckled. "Good to know."

I turned in his arms. "At least the water bill won't get any higher."

He looked confused. "What are you…"

"Mari told me that she could hear you in the shower. A lot."

I swear on a stack of bibles he blushed. "Well to make up for it, we should shower together from now on. Conserving water and what not."

"I like the sound of that." I said, feeling him twitch to life again. Jesus, he was going to kill me. "In fact, I'm feeling a little dirty right now. Race you to the bathroom!" I jumped off the bed and started running. Ranger caught me quickly and I screeched as he picked me up and carried me to the shower.

He turned on the water and when it was warm, he pushed me inside. And then he pushed inside me. I moaned and wrapped my legs around his waist. He backed me into the wall and put his hand on it to support us.

"Carlos," I moaned again.

"God, I love it when you moan my name." He pushed himself into me harder.

"Carlos." I said, when he thrusted harder. He found my sensitive clit and I shrieked loudly, and swiveled my hips, trying to get away from the heightened sensation.

Carlos grabbed my hips. "You can take it, trust me."

I panted and let my head fall back onto the shower wall. He sped up and I tightened myself around him, fearing I'd turn to liquid and fall right out of his hands. A few flicks later, I was quaking with my third orgasm of the day. Carlos spilled himself inside me a few seconds later, moaning something in Spanish. Man, I loved it when he did that.

Unsurprisingly, we used more water than two separate showers combined.


	12. Chapter 12

Ugh, I'm a horrible updater. So sorry this took so long. There really isn't any reason other than I was too lazy. Hopefully I'll get the next one up soon.

Not mine.

Warning: Little bit of smut.

* * *

><p>"Come on, baby, give it to me<em>.<em>" I said to myself. "You know what I need."

Okay, before you get any dirty ideas, I'm not having sex with Carlos.

Feel free to pout. I know I am.

"Ready for the river?" Lester asked, hand on the deck. He was playing dealer this round and taking his role _way_ too seriously.

Everyone decided that we needed to get out of the bedroom. After spending two days in there, only coming out for meals, was all they could handle. So when we came out on the third day, the guys had set up the poker table in the living room.

Let's just say that playing wasn't optional.

Connie and Lula were sitting on the couch happily gossiping. They had been knocked out of our mini tournament early. Bobby was next and was watching the game with rapt attention.

All it did was make me grumpy. After three years of not having Carlos, I had some catching up to do. Carlos just thought my grumpiness was cute.

"You don't turn that card over, you're going to pull back a stump." I growled. I had some really good cards.

Carlos, who was sitting across from me, looked up and smiled.

Originally, we were sitting next to our significant other, but Carlos got handsy and I would stop playing footsie so they moved him to the other side of the table.

Not that it totally stopped me. I found his leg and began to rub it.

At least, I thought it was his leg until Mari's head shot up. "What the hell?" She exclaimed.

"Oops, stretching." I said.

No one believed me. I blushed into my cards and Carlos' grin widened.

"All right. Are you done?" Lester asked. I didn't respond. "And the river is a ten of clubs."

_Yes!_ I did a little happy dance.

"Jeez. She has good cards again." Tank said, rolling his eyes. "I'm out."

"Hey! How do you know? I could have really crappy cards." I don't though. Can you say full house?

"Your tell is really obvious." Lester said, placing his cards next to Tank's. "You squint your left eye."

"I do not!"

"It looks like you have to fart."

"That's so rude."

"But true."

Carlos called. He was the only brave one left.

I was going to cream him.

"Full house. Jacks over tens." I did a little dance over to my money.

"Not so fast Babe." I looked up. "Aces over tens."

Not. Possible.

"You're so not getting any tonight."

"We'll see." He grinned and collected the pot. He knew that it was an empty threat. No one ever said no to Carlos. I mean, look at him!

I was knocked out a few minutes later by Lester, but Ranger won the whole pot.

Figures.

"Dinner's on me tonight." Ranger said grinning, fanning our money out.

Well at least I'd get a meal out of it.

The rest of us cheered and went upstairs to change. As soon as I hit the door of my room, I started to strip. It was three now and if I hurried and showered quickly, there _might_ be enough time to look presentable.

Of course, I wasn't alone in the shower long.

"What are you doing?" I asked Carlos when he stepped in with me.

"If I have to explain it to you, I'm not doing something right."

"Oh no. For one, I'm still mad at you."

"Babe, it was just a game."

"That I was supposed to win!"

He just grinned at me. I sighed. "Okay, maybe I overreacted a little."

"A little?"

"Watch it, mister. You're on thin ice."

His grin widened.

I shoved my head back under the water and washed the shampoo out of my hair. "Two, I have everything planned out. There is no time for me to help you get your rocks off."

Carlos barked out a laugh, his eyes glittering black. "Trust me, it won't take long."

"No."

His eyes latched onto my breasts. "You're lying."

I reached for the conditioner. "I'm a little cold. Get over it."

He backed me into the stall wall, his arms blocking me in between. "No, I don't think you're cold." He nuzzled my neck. I melted. Carlos knew exactly where to push my buttons to get me to cave. My neck was number three. I just groaned. "I have everything planned to the minute."

"You can skip the make-up. I love it when you're bare." He said, rubbing my lower lips. I could feel his grin when he figured out how wet I was.

"I don't know what I'm going to wear."

"The blue sundress."

"What about shoes?"

He grinned. "The silver sandals."

"Good choices."

"And to save time, you can skip the underwear." Carlos said, his smile widening as he hitched my left leg onto his hip, opening me to him. "I love the thought of easy access." He started to rub himself back and forth against me.

I blushed. "You're nuts. I have to wear underwear."

"If you must. Maybe the little white lacy thong. I like that one."

"How do you…? You know what, never mind. I don't think I want to know."

He pushed inside of me. "I opened the wrong drawer."

I smiled. He was lying. I could tell because he doesn't lie often and when he does, he's as bad as I am. "You're such a liar."

"I was looking for a towel and found those instead." Our hip bones touched and he nibbled on my ear. "I thought they might be underneath but all I found were more lacy thongs."

"You're a sick man."

"I told you I might be sick sexually."

"As long as it only involves me and not other women or my behind then I'm good."

He pulled out and pushed himself back in. "I'm sure we can broaden those horizons."

"Don't count on it."

"I have my ways." He said, giving my earlobe one last nibble. And that was the last thing either of us said. Carlos braced himself on the wall and began thrusting in earnest. I raised my other leg onto his hip and held on for dear life. His hand found my clit and a few seconds later, I was a goner, crying out his name, with Carlos right behind me.

Twenty minutes later, I was in the outfit Carlos had suggested sighing at my hair. He came into the mirror and raised an eyebrow.

"I think it's a lost cause." I said.

"Looks sexy to me."

That's because he's the one who made it look like I had just stuck my finger in a light socket. Men. I just rolled my eyes and grabbed a hair tie.

"Ready." I said, smiling up at him. He smiled back and took my hand.

We ended up at a small seafood restaurant right on the beach ten minutes from the house. It was a cute little restaurant that reminded me of the Red Lobster, only better.

"I don't know what I want." Lula said, perusing the menu. "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse, but I don't know what I want."

"Then get the sampler. It has a little of everything." Tank said, helping her out.

"Thanks, baby." She leaned over and kissed him.

"Are you going to help me out like that?" I asked Carlos behind my menu.

"Are you going to kiss me like that?"

I peeked around my menu. It looked like Lula was trying to suck his face off. I grimaced. "Probably not."

"Then you're on your own."

Lula ended up with the platter and Tank, Lester, Bobby and I all got lobster. Mari and Connie got shrimp and Carlos got a piece of salmon and wild rice. Go figure he picks the healthiest thing.

Connie had just finished telling a story when I saw Tank's and Lula's faces pale. I turned and gasped.

"Fancy seeing you here, Cupcake."

"Joe."

I couldn't believe it. Joe was crashing my vacation!

"What are you doing here?" Carlos asked.

"I thought I'd come down and surprise Stephanie."

Understatement of the century.

"Look, can we talk?"

"I don't think so."

"Please, Cupcake. I need to talk to you."

I wasn't going to back down from this. Joe and I were over. Nothing was going to change that. I grabbed Carlos's hand and his face went purple. "I have nothing to say to you. We're over and nothing's going to change that. I've made up my mind and I think you need to accept that. We've both made mistakes and we need to walk away from this relationship that was never going to work. I hope we can be friends someday though."

The next thing that came out of his mouth shocked me to my core.

"I can't believe you repeated it. You said that was going to be in confidence."

I looked up at Joe, confused.

Only to realize that he wasn't looking at me anymore. He was looking at Carlos.

"Not now, Morelli." Carlos gritted out. "Don't say something you're going to regret."

"So how long did you wait, Manoso. Did you at least wait five minutes before telling her?"

"Tell me what?" I asked. It fell on deaf ears.

"I just bet you couldn't wait to run to her and tell her. So she'd be so pissed at me that she'd fall right into your arms. I know what you're playing at! You told me she'd never see the photos of me and Terri!"

Photos? What the hell…? I looked from Ranger to Joe. Ranger's eyes narrowed and Joe's artery popped out from his neck.

And then it dawned on me.

"You sniveling, wretched, _cheating _bastard! How _could _you?" I yelled.

Joe looked at me shocked. "What?"

"I never told her." Ranger said. I think he muttered dumbass under his breath.

I was shocked. Everyone had told me that Joe was different. That he got the good genes in the family. That he wasn't the cheating whore his father and every male in the Morelli family was.

Turns out, he was.

I was so angry that I shot out of my chair.

What's worse was that Ranger knew about it and had kept this from me. I looked around the table, searching for an ally. But all I saw was downturned eyes from Lula, Connie and Mari and pity from Tank, Bobby and Lester. Ranger had his blank face on and Joe looked about as shocked as I did.

Everyone knew. That is, everyone but me.

Even though I was in the crowded restaurant, I had never before in my life felt so alone.

* * *

><p>I know, you probably all hate that I'm leaving it there, but it's for your benefit! I'll be more likely to write with such a big cliff hanger. Hope this wasn't too melodramatic. That's not what I was going for!<p> 


	13. Chapter 13

Okay, so WOW! I can't believe people were on such opposite ends on this one! So to make everyone happy, I think I found a happy median. I was going to post last night, but I didn't like where I ended the chapter. So I added more because you guys are waiting so patiently!

I hope everyone enjoys this! I had a lot of fun writing it.

Not mine.

Warning: Smut.

* * *

><p>All I could hear was my heavy breathing. I wasn't registering anything else. Joe instantly paled.<p>

Good.

I couldn't believe that everyone knew. They knew my boyfriend was a cheater and they didn't tell me.

What friends I had, I scoffed.

I was just glad that restaurant was pretty much empty. And if there was anyone left, they were studiously studying their food.

"Look, it was when we were apart... Most of the time." Joe tried to explain. "I'm sure you were with him when we weren't together."

"I have _never _been unfaithful to you, Joe." I seethed.

Anger seeped through every pore. Anger, and a little bit of isolation.

That is, until Lula decided to speak.

"Where's my gun. I'm gonna shoot that motherfucker. No one messes with my girl."

I whipped around and glared at her. "No, what you should've done is told me that he was cheating!"

"Girl, please, when have I ever been able to keep a secret? Like that time when Connie over bleached her mustache. She looked like Colonel Sanders for a week."

"Hey!" Connie said, blushing.

"Whoops. See what I mean?"

I narrowed my eyes. She had a point. I knew every detail about her life. It was a miracle she still had a tongue. I turned to Connie. "You?"

She shrugged. "I get all my gossip from Lula. She texts me the minute she has anything. My mother tries to update me on the gossip, but I just wait for Lula. I don't know how she does it, but she always has the most accurate shit. If anyone knew about this, she would've known."

"Girl, it's all about location."

"And I didn't even know who that is." Mari piped in.

But then…

"Why did you all look away?"

Lula huffed. "I was looking for my purse! I'm gonna shoot him!"

"I was hiding her purse." Connie said, blushing slightly.

"That's just cruel."

"More cruel than blabbing that I have a mustache?"

"Touché."

Mari just looked away. "I hate confrontation."

I took a moment to think back. The girls were looking away, but the guys were giving me pitying looks.

I blinked. Or were they?

I whipped around. "Jesus, shit." Joe said, backing up.

"Dude, she's gonna kill him." Lester chuckled.

"Ten bucks says he cries." Bobby wagered.

"You're so on."

Tank just shook his head, the pitying look staring back at me.

I blinked again. No, not at me. At Joe.

Mental head slap. He was standing right behind me.

Maybe Ranger was right, I am a tad over dramatic. That over dramatics was making sure I wasn't thinking straight.

And speaking of Mr. Liar Pants, I looked at him. The blank face was gone, and he looked pissed.

"Did you actually think we'd leave you out to dry, white girl?" Lula asked, coming around the table. She had given up looking for her gun and settled on her stun gun instead. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Connie hand Tank her gun. I mentally sighed with relief. "Shit, girl, we go way back. You saved my life. I think I at least owe you for the rest of my life for that. Don't worry, Lula's got your back. And because I got her back," Lula looked over at Ranger, "when you decide to clear this clusterfuck up, I hope she's not crying. Because if she is, I'm coming after your balls."

Ranger's brow twitched. I think he was amused.

Right now, I was feeling like a total idiot. I think in the back of my mind, somewhere deep down, I knew they were on my side, but once again I overreacted before thinking about things. Guilt washed over me. My mother always said I was impulsive and was going to drive her to an early grave. Who knew she'd be right?

Not that I wasn't still mad at Ranger. Mad doesn't even begin to cover it.

I turned back to Joe and kneed him right in the balls. "You are going to go back to Trenton and never speak of this again." I said, leaning down to whisper in his ear. "You will pretend that you never saw me and that this was all a figment of your imagination. You will go back to work and never talk to me again. You fail to comply with these rules, I'll sick Lula and Grandma Mazur on you."

"Got it." I'm pretty sure if I asked for a twenty, he would've given it to me.

"I had hoped we could be friends someday Joe, but now we know that's never going to happen."

"Cupcake…"

"And stop calling me that!" I screeched.

"Sorry."

"Get out of my sight right now."

And Joe bolted.

"Pussy." Lula muttered.

I had to agree. The only thing that might've helped if he had peed his pants. "I'm sorry I doubted you."

"It's okay, girlfriend." She turned serious. "Just don't do it again."

I nodded.

Ranger stood up. He thought it was his turn to talk and explain, but I was so tired. "I can't." I said.

And I did what I wanted to do when this all started. I left.

Unfortunately, Ranger followed me.

"Babe." He said, jogging after me.

"Not now, Ranger." I said, walking quickly away from him.

"Where are you going?"

"Home."

"I'll drive you."

"No not that home. _Home_, home."

I could hear Ranger stop behind me. "I shouldn't be surprised, but I am."

This time, I stopped. I whirled around and glared at him. "_Excuse me_?"

"It's what you do, Stephanie. When it gets tough, you run away."

I could feel the adrenalin pump through my veins. "I'm not having this fight with you."

I heard him scoff behind me. "And when will we have this conversation, hmm? Next year?"

Ranger was definitely out of character. I don't think I've ever seen him react like this. "Sure. Next year works for me."

He finally caught up to me, gently grabbed my arm and pushed me into a wall, effectively cornering me. "No."

"No?" I screeched. "Get your hands off of me!"

"Not until we talk. You aren't walking away from us."

"Don't you get it? There is no _us_! The minute you decided that you weren't going to tell me about Joe was the minute you weren't going to give us a chance."

His eyes narrowed. "He cheats on you and this is my fault? How is that fair?"

"Fair? You want to talk about fair?"

"I was trying to protect you!" He bellowed.

My heart softened for a minute before the anger came flowing back. "I can take care of myself."

"Yes, but…"

"But nothing. You took away my choice to deal with Joe."

"True, but…"

"I don't care if it was out of some misguided macho bullshit, but how is taking away my freedom okay?"

"It's not." He whispered. "I was always going to tell you."

"Really? How can I believe that?"

He looked shocked. "You don't trust me?"

"How can I when you clearly don't trust me?"

He blinked.

"Stephanie! You need a ride back?" Lula called from the entrance of the restaurant. Connie and Mari were right behind her.

Ranger let me step around him and I started to walk towards her. "Look, I love you, but right now, I'm not so sure I can be..."

"I didn't tell you because I wanted you to have a pleasant vacation. I could see that you needed to get desperately away. Not just three weeks ago. You've needed a vacation for years, Babe."

I opened my mouth but he stopped me. "You deserve the truth now, even if it's a little late. I don't want this to ruin whatever chance we have to be together."

I sighed, but shut my mouth.

"So when you girls wanted to take a vacation, I jumped at the opportunity to give you this. You don't like to take gifts so I try to do as much as you'll let me whenever you'll let me.

"A few days after you left, I was out chasing a skip. He led me right to where Morelli and Terri were meeting. The next day, I brought a camera for evidence. I called him and told him if he didn't stay away from you while you were on vacation that I was going to tell you about him and Terri. He agreed, and along with a few curse words was escorted from the building. _Nobody_ else knew. I kept the photos in a locked drawer. I had my GPS turned off when I went back.

"After he left, I debated what to tell you. I knew I should at least keep my word, but somehow I knew you needed to know. I paced my office, agonizing over what I should do. But we were talking every day and you sounded so _damn happy_ that I knew I couldn't tell you. Not right away at least. It made me happy to hear you so happy that I knew I couldn't rip that from you."

I crossed my arms. "So you rather me hear it from Joe?"

"No. He was the one thing I didn't count on. I had no idea he was going to bring it up until he did."

"Yeah, well that's an understatement."

He took a step towards me. "Look, I know I really screwed this one up. I just hope that you can forgive me."

"You were the one person I always counted on to give me a straight answer. Now that you didn't tell me about this…" I shook my head and wiped the few tears that were coming down my face. "How can this work?" I started to walk away again. It was tearing me up inside, but it felt like the right thing to do.

But that wasn't the worst of it. The fact that he just let me go ripped me to shreds.

And then word-vomit Ranger appeared again. I think he's done more talking in the last five minutes than he has his entire life.

"When I was five," he started. "My sister dressed me up in our mother's clothes. She called me real life Barbie. After a while, it became second nature to me."

I giggled and turned. Connie, Mari and Lula looked unfazed, so we were still far enough away that they couldn't hear. Good, because I was pretty sure Ranger didn't want this getting around.

He took a step towards me. "At sixteen, I lost my virginity to a woman almost twice my age. A few years later, I played the gay card when she wanted to get married."

Oh man, that was rich. "Why are you…?"

He put his fingers on my lips. "And when I found you in my bed the first time, I thought that I was hallucinating. It felt too good to be true, but I still wanted it to be. I wanted to ask you with every fiber of my being to stay there the rest of your life. I never wanted you to leave. That's when I realized that you have all the power, Babe. You make me do crazy things like make deals and protect you even when I know that you don't need it. I know that I hurt you so much and I'd do anything to take that pain away. So I told you these things because if and when you decide that we're worth it, I want you to know the whole truth. So you know exactly who you're dealing with. I love you and even if you decide…"

I decided to stop him right there. I pushed my lips onto his and shoved my fingers into his hair. He kissed me back with a desperation that I never would have associated with him.

"The whole talking nonstop thing is going to end, right? Because it's starting to freak me out."

He just grinned.

"There that's the man I know."

His hands cupped my face. "I love you so much. I'm sorry I didn't tell you. You had a right to know."

"I know. And you didn't deserve all the anger I had. Most, sure. But not all." I tugged his hair so he looked me straight in the eye. "But you lie or don't tell me something again, I will have Lula stun your nuts before I cut them off."

He winced but nodded. "Deal."

"I'm still mad." I said, my eyes darkening.

Carlo's eyes darkened as well. "Well is there anything I can do to help you get over that?"

"Where's the car?"

The alarm beeped off next to me. "Hmm, convenient."

"Hunh. I guess that's a no, white girl?" Lula yelled.

I smiled and waved.

Carlos drove for a few minutes and then stopped when he found a deserted area. After parking his Porsche, he pulled me onto his lap.

Laughing, he said, "I haven't done this in years."

"Joe tried once, but after I found a tracker in my purse, I kicked him out of the car in just his shorts."

Carlos barked out a laugh. "It's an art form that definitely needs to be mastered."

"I'm just glad I'm wearing a dress."

"Me too." He slid the dress over my hips and smiled. "Pretty." He was playing with the lacy band of my thong.

"You picked them out."

He kissed me behind the ear. "I do have excellent taste. That's why I picked you."

I blushed. "Flattery will get you everywhere." I unbuckled his pants and pushed them out of the way. He moved my panties aside and I lowered myself onto him.

"Christ." He groaned. "You feel so good."

I didn't respond. I was too busy trying not to pass out. Whenever he entered me, I always lost my breath.

A few seconds later, we had recovered minimally, but began to move. Carlos lifted his hips to meet mine each time I pushed him back inside. His finger found my clit and cried out as the first tremors of orgasm fell over me. Carlos increased his speed, timed to the flicks of my clit.

"God, Carlos." I throatily moaned as my orgasm took me over the edge. He twitched and emptied himself, sending me over again.

I lowered my forehead to his shoulder as I tried to catch my breath.

"Holy shit."

Well, that pretty much summed it up. Carlos was the master when it came to car sex.

"Are you still mad?"

I grinned. "I can be in twenty minutes."


	14. Chapter 14

Sorry it took me so long to update. I was having problems with the next chapter (I couldn't make up my mind, but then again, what else is new?) and RL was giving me little down time. Thankfully, with a little caffeine last night, I was able to write and finish.

Not mine. Warning for some smut.**  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Ranger's POV<strong>

After making love to Stephanie again, she settled back into her seat and fell asleep. I smiled, reveling in the fact that I had put her into a sex coma. I righted our clothes and started the car, heading for home.

Twenty minutes later, I was pulling into the garage. When I picked Stephanie up, she opened her eyes just long enough to roll them. I smiled and she wrapped her arms around my neck and cuddled closer. I walked into the house, glaring at anyone who tried to get anywhere near us. She needed rest and I had somewhere to go.

I carefully laid her down on the bed and began to undress her. Even after having her twice already, my body was revving to have her again, but I managed to stomp it down. She didn't need to have me maul her again. After pulling off the rest of her clothes, I tucked a curl behind her ear. She grabbed my hand.

"No, stay." She said, her unfocused blue eyes searching for mine. "I want to have my way with you again."

I grinned. There was my Babe. Always ready for more. "You can barely keep your eyes open."

"So?"

"So you're not ready for more."

She harrumphed. "Don't tell me what I'm ready for, mister." She reached out and grabbed my crotch. "And you want it as bad as I do."

I couldn't argue that.

"I'll let you be on top." She offered.

My grin widened. "Bribery? That's all you got?"

She sat up on her elbows. "Take it or leave it."

I quickly undressed and jumped gently on top of her. "You don't have to tell me twice."

Stephanie wrapped her legs around me. "I'm pretty sure I did."

I rubbed myself against her. She moaned. "Fine. Three times. Satisfied?"

She grinned and grabbed my ass. "Not yet."

I slipped inside her. "Well then let's do something about that."

Watching Stephanie orgasm was truly my little slice of heaven here on earth. She whimpered in my ear, hoping to get me to speed up my thrusts, but that wasn't happening.

In those few minutes when she left the restaurant and I caught up with her outside, I thought I had lost her. And in some ways, I had. When I caught up to her, her eyes were cold, not the warmth and love that I was seeing now. She was pale, and the defensive stance told me everything I needed to know.

I needed to fix this fast.

She kept distancing herself from me, until I began to tell her little things. Only then, did I see her soften and crack. She smiled when I brought up my sister and the gay card. And then I told her about finding her in my bed and the dam broke open.

I knew I had her back.

For the first time in a very long time, I thanked God.

"Come on, move!" She groaned.

"I don't think so." I said, slowly sliding back in. "I'm going to make this last."

Stephanie groaned again and sighed.

I just smiled.

"You're just doing this to torture me."

I slid out. "Yes. I'm torturing you."

"I knew it!"

I slammed into her. She arched her back and moaned. Loudly. I kissed her neck. "Mmm, I love when you make that sound."

I could feel her smile. "Oh I know."

I lifted my head and looked at her. "You're such a little minx."

"You know it."

I sped up and reveled when her skin began to blush and her eyes briefly closed. My finger found her clit and I began to rub it in slow circles. She arched into my hand. A few strokes later, she was falling off the edge and screaming my name. I pulled out and pushed roughly back in and came, growling her name.

She sighed. "That was perfect."

I slid out and rolled next to her. "Sleep now."

"Not a problem. Love you…" And she was out.

"I love you too." I kissed her forehead and slipped out of bed.

There was somewhere I needed to be.

After dressing, I crept out of the room.

"Let me know if she wakes up." I told Tank when I met him in the hallway.

"Where are you going?" He asked, crossing his arms.

"Out."

"To find Morelli?"

I didn't respond. Tank swore. "Don't you think the two of you done enough damage?"

"Hey…"

"She may have forgiven you, but we haven't yet. Hurt her again and we'll need a séance to talk to you."

"Got it."

Tank rubbed his face and sighed. "Look, I know you were doing the right thing…"

"I don't need a lecture from you." I barked.

He glared at me. "Fine. Then let me give you this little piece of advice. Lie or hold something back from her again and she won't be so forgiving. She loves you and knows deep down that you want to protect her, but she's on her guard now. So for your sake and hers, try not to do it again."

He had a point, I couldn't argue that. "I was doing what I thought was right."

"I know."

I sighed. "I'll keep that in mind."

"You do that." He crossed his arms. "Now go give Morelli a hard time for us."

I grinned. We shook hands and I headed to the kitchen for my keys.

"He's staying at the Holiday Inn on the beach." Lester said, not looking up from the sandwich he was making.

"Do I even want to know?"

"I called Hal. He made Ram run the credit card."

"He likes being in charge."

Lester scoffed. "He loves it. Keep that in mind when we all need a vacation."

"I will."

Lester put down the knife. "You were going to tell her, right?"

I nodded. "When we got back home."

"That's all I needed to know. You can go now."

"Thanks for giving me permission." I mumbled to his back.

"You're welcome."

I rolled my eyes and headed for the garage. I knew exactly which hotel he was at.

Rolling in twenty minutes later, I walked up to the desk and asked for Morelli's room number.

"He's on the third floor." The woman behind the desk said, batting her eyelashes. I sighed. Since Stephanie, the casual flirting I was used to did nothing for me. "Three oh five."

"Thanks." I walked towards the elevator.

"Wait!" She called after me. I could only assume that she wanted to flirt some more. "Technically, I should call up to his room first…"

"I want this to be a surprise."

"Still…"

"It's the first time we've seen each other in a few weeks and I want this to be special."

"Oh. _Oh_." The woman breathed. "I got it."

I winked at her. "Please don't ruin it."

"Not a problem. Have a good night."

I gave her a small smile and a finger wave as the doors closed.

"What a waste." She said, sighing.

I was glad to know I still had it.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened. Finding his room was easy. Keeping my anger down, well, not so much.

"Shit." He said when he opened the door. "Do I even want to know how you found me?"

"Credit check. Totally legal."

"Uh huh. And how do you have those programs?"

I just smiled. Some things were better left unsaid. "You going to let me in?"

"You're not going to kill me right?"

"No, not right now."

"Is that the only answer you're going to give me?"

"That's the best."

He sighed. "Fine. Come in."

I strolled past him and looked around his dinky room. "By the way, if you were planning to score with the night manager, let it go. I implied that I was your lover coming by to surprise you."

"Jesus, what the hell is wrong with you?"

"Trust me, cockblocking you is the least of your worries right now."

He crossed his arms. "Then what are you doing here?"

"That was really low, you know."

"What's that?" He asked, feinting stupidity.

"Morelli, we both know that you're really not that stupid. Drop the act." I crossed my arms.

"A man's got to try, you know." He actually looked sheepish.

"Yeah well, when you think about trying again, don't think with your dick."

"You have no right…"

"I think I have _every_ right!" I yelled. "You hurt Stephanie tonight. Did you really think that would work? Telling her in front of all her friends that you had cheated on her while you were together? That she'd be so mad that I knew as well and didn't tell her that she'd forget all about that? Maybe you are as stupid as you look."

"You've done the same thing in the past."

"Actually I haven't. I value her _way_ more than you _ever _did."

"Look, if you came here to beat me up…"

"I didn't come here for that. Even though Stephanie hates you right now, she'd hate me if I beat you up. Even though she hates you, she wouldn't want that." I turned to leave. "You need to face facts, Morelli. She's not coming back to you. Move on." I turned back to him. "Oh, and if you don't follow Stephanie's directions, I'll make sure she makes good on her promise and more."

He swallowed hard and nodded.

I smiled all the way back to my Babe.

She was still sleeping when I got back, so I decided to join her in bed. I removed all of my clothes and got into bed as silently as possible.

"Does Morelli still have his head?" She asked. She was lying on her side and I cuddled close to her.

"He does." I nuzzled her neck. "You're so warm."

She grabbed my hand and kissed the fingers before lacing our hands together. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Defending my honor. I think I like Chivalrous Carlos best."

"I thought you liked Sexy Carlos best." I said, grinning into her hair.

"Well sure, he gets the job done, but I don't know…" I could hear the smile in her voice.

"Go back to sleep, smartass. I liked you better when you were silent and just lying there."

"Boy you know how to charm the pants off of a woman, don't you?"

I laughed now. "Not to be all technical, but you're not wearing pants." I said, rubbing her naked hip.

"I was speaking metaphorically."

"Well then yes, I can charm the _metaphorical_ pants off of you."

"Not tonight you aren't. I have a headache."

"Babe."


	15. Chapter 15

As with all stories, we've come to the end. I'm sad to see this one ending, but I'm excited to get started on a new story! Hope you enjoy the end! I had fun writing it.

Not mine. But you all knew that.**  
><strong>

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><p><strong>Stephanie's POV<strong>

"I can't believe we're back in this hell hole ice box again." Lula said, dragging her rolling suitcase behind her.

We stopped after a few steps when we realized the guys were still talking to security. They were showing their government badges and papers that let them fly armed. The guys were nothing but careful.

"We couldn't stay there forever." Connie said.

"Speak for yourself. I liked wearing bikinis all day, every day. A girl could get used to that kind of wonderful."

We shuddered at the thought.

"You do know that it's hotter and more humid in the summer down there, right?" I added.

Lula thought about that. "Shit."

"This is what I'm saying." Connie said.

Carlos smiled down at me and laced our fingers together. "Ready to get back to work?"

"Yes. I can't wait to tackle a skip again."

He pouted. "You don't want to spend every waking minute with me anymore?"

"Only if you want to end up in a shallow grave."

He barked out a laugh and kissed my forehead. "Crawling up the walls?"

"I don't know how you do it. Sit around and do nothing but watch."

"It takes practice."

"Maybe you're just a freak."

He smiled. "But you love me anyway."

"Yeah, unfortunately…" I said in a teasing voice.

He looked at the couples in front of us. Connie and Lester were punching each other. Lula's head was resting on Tank's shoulder. Even though Mari had decided to stay in Miami, Bobby was on the phone, smiling softly as they talked. "Everything's changing." He said.

"Good change or bad change?"

He looked at me. "Good. Definitely good."

**One year later…**

"How much time do we have?" Mari asked.

I looked at the clock. "About three minutes."

"Perfect." She said. "That's just enough time for me to go pee." She rubbed her swollen belly and sighed. "The little man has been jumping on my bladder all day."

"Well hurry it up girl!" Lula said. "Showtime in two!"

Bobby stuck his head in. "How's everyone doing? Toes all toasty?"

We nodded.

He searched the room. "Where's Mari?"

"In the can." Lula said.

Bobby grimaced at Lula's lack of subtlety but nodded. "Is it okay to send dad in?"

"Sure is."

"Ready?" He asked me.

"Sure am. Let's rock this bitch."

I waited for my cue and started the walk down the aisle. I smiled, praying on the inside that I don't trip and fall like I did in rehearsal. My eyes drifted to the best man.

Mm, he looked tasty.

Now before you get any ideas, I'm not the one getting married. Connie is. Carlos is the best man to my matron of honor.

I spent a good three weeks teasing him that he was lucky that he was the best man. I'm pretty sure that Lula would have had a conniption if I made out with Tank.

Let's just say that he wasn't as amused as I was.

My man definitely knows how to fill a suit properly and I had to bite back a moan.

Carlos caught my eye and winked. He knew _exactly_ what I was thinking.

I blushed and turned my eyes forward. I was so not going there with him right now. He denied me the quickie in the car earlier so he gets nothing now.

I peeked over and he was smiling at me now.

Smug bastard.

So Carlos was right. Things were changing. A few months after we got back, things were normal.

Normal until Bobby announced he was moving to the Miami office.

"I miss her too much." He said when I gave him a big hug at his going away party. "I thought that the long distance thing was perfect. But now…"

"Now you want more." I finished for him. "I'm so happy for you, but I'm going to miss you."

"You've always been my favorite." He hugged me tightly one more time and stepped onto the elevator.

Sure, we see him every once in a while, but it's still not the same. A few months later, we were invited down for their wedding and surprise, surprise, Mari was pregnant.

The Rangemen men work fast.

Tank and Lula were the next ones down the aisle. Their wedding was a surprise to us all and especially to them. Carlos had sent Tank to Las Vegas for a conference and Lula surprised him out there and then I think you can figure out the rest.

The original plan was to come back and get it annulled. I'm still waiting on that one.

Carlos and I were obviously next. He surprised me on our six month anniversary with a trip back to the beach house. We had just finished making love on the beach when he gave me the ring.

And then I dragged his ass to the courthouse. Laughing the entire way.

"Do you want to handcuff me in the back so I won't escape?" He asked me, chuckling.

"Shut up." No way was Batman going to wiggle out of this one!

My mother was pleased as punch when we came back married. She started planning the reception post haste. Surprisingly, she let me handle the small stuff while she planned the big stuff. I actually had fun doing it with her.

I didn't see Joe for a few months and the first and only time I did, he saw me, paled, whispered 'fuck!' and bolted from the room. Next thing I hear he's taken a job in New York. I like to think I had something to do with him reaching for the stars.

Carlos just laughed his ass off when he heard this. He laughs more, too, I've noticed. And yes, I took credit for that too. He's happier.

We both are.

Since the Joe incident, Carlos hasn't lied to me. But he did promise me that if I ever felt he was, he was more than happy to strap himself to the polygraph.

It was a sweet gesture, but we both knew that the army had taught him how to beat it _years_ ago.

I finally made it to my spot and watched Connie come down the aisle. One year to the date, we were back at the house. Connie and Lester decided to start the new chapter of their lives where their first one officially started. The girls and I were all for that. It was exciting to go back to the place where it all began for us. She was glowing, as most brides did, and I had never seen her look more beautiful. Her hair and make-up were toned down (the first time she came into the office with her new 'do, I thought it wasn't her!) and we could actually see Connie's real face. Lester has been very good to her.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today…" The priest started.

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><p>"The ceremony was beautiful." Carlos said to me as we were making our way around the dance floor.<p>

"It definitely was. But I think ours tops it."

"Sure, because what's better than getting rice thrown on us by the secretaries of the judges that were there?"

"Hey, they were sweet. And they cried. Who could ask for more?"

"Who indeed."

I rested my head on his shoulder. "If someone told you that you would end up here, would you believe it?"

"No."

My head shot up. "What?"

"Because I would never believe that you would ever go for a guy like me."

"Aww, I'm melting on the inside."

"Melting in a good way?"

"Not in that way mister."

He pouted.

"Hey, I gave you that chance already."

He grinned now. "You know that whenever we make love, _nothing_ about it is quick."

"Yeah, but I was really looking forward to broadening some of _your_ horizons."

"You think so, do you?"

"Mm-hmm."

I put my head back down. "So another one bites the dust, huh."

Carlos was smiling. "And Hal bought a ring yesterday."

"No!"

"Yeah. We've started a trend here, Babe. Everyone wants what I have."

"Us?" I found that hard to believe that people wanted to be like us.

"Sure. They've watched us deny our feelings and circle each other for years. I'm a better man because of you and they all want that too."

"You make me a better woman, Carlos."

"I sure hope so, or I'm not doing it right."

I elbowed him. "Way to take a nice moment and make it sexual."

"It's what I do."

We were silent for a minute. Mari and Bobby came close and she waved at me. I looked at her swollen stomach and sighed.

"You want one?"

I looked at him. "I don't know if I'd be a good…"

He stopped me. "That's not what I'm asking. Do you want one?"

That was the question of the day, wasn't it? A few months back, my mother started to watch my hips. I think she was willing them to widen.

I bit my lip. Did I? Kids scared the crap out of me, but when I had the mental image, no man came with it. But thinking about raising Carlos's… our child. I get warm inside.

"I think so."

He sighed. "Good."

"Why? Are you pregnant?"

He grinned. "No, I won't have to fight you on it. I would love nothing more than to watch you raise our children."

"Whoa, _children_? Plural? Are you giving birth after the first one because I'm pretty sure that's all I can take."

He smiled now. "We'll see."

"Yeah, we'll see right after you get your vasectomy."

Carlos laughed his booming laugh. It gave me shivers. The good kind. "Want to go practice?"

"I thought…"

I grabbed his hand and dragged him away. "Come on, I saw a broom closet in the house that we never christened."

"Right behind you."

Even though our lives changed because of that fateful vacation, I was glad to see that some things were still the same.

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><p>I think everything's tied up all nicely, don't you? If you have any questions or feel like I left something out, I'm always up for ideas for one-shots!<p> 


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